


The Coffee Shop Soundtrack For Our Wasted Youth

by Killedbycroc



Category: All Time Low, You Me At Six
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:03:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killedbycroc/pseuds/Killedbycroc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the final time, I looked around the apartment. My apartment. In New York. I could hardly bring myself to believe it, but it was where I lived now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_ Tuesday _ **

  For the final time, I looked around the apartment. _My_ apartment. In New York. I could hardly bring myself to believe it, but it was where I lived now, along with my best friend Emma, and also my friend Jodie, though she was only living with us part time.

  New York was a major move for me and Emma (Jodie had been going back and forth from the UK for a couple of months now, though how she manages it with a salary from working part-time in a clothes shop, I’ll never know), as I had been offered a great job at a leading US music magazine. However, the thought of coming over here by myself was petrifying, so I managed to convince Emma to come with me after promising to be her slave for life.

  “...And here’s the keys.” I snapped out of my daydreaming long enough to catch the object that was falling into my hands. “Anything else you need?”

  “No,” I replied, transfixed by the shiny golden metal thing in my palm, mere seconds before someone attacked me from behind.

  “Ohmigod dude, this is AWESOME!” Emma screeched down my right ear without any prior warning. One thing about Emma – you need to be a ninja at all times when she’s around.

  Carefully, I tried to peel her off my back, with little success. “I know! Trust Jodie not to be around for this...” I heard a camera go off somewhere behind me, and the unmistakable sound of Jodie being unable to control her laughter.

  “I am always around,” she tried to be serious, but she couldn’t keep that smile off of her face. “Anyway, did you really think I’d miss your first day in your brand new apartment in New York? This means photo time!” Several more pictures were taken before I managed to wrestle the camera out of Jodie’s hands and take a few of her.

  We carried on like this for a few minutes, stealing the camera out of one another’s hands, until Emma decided to tickle me to the ground and place her foot on top of me. “Run Jodie, save yourself! Go and warn the others!” Of course, she did the complete opposite of that, and collapsed on the floor in a bundle of laughs, desperately trying to get any sort of oxygen into her body. “Oops,” Emma said as she helped me off the floor, “I think we may have killed Jodie.”

  The sight of her was enough to set me off, but luckily I recovered quickly. “Hey, you promised to get us coffee.” Our kettle was broken already (five minutes and twenty-two seconds after buying it), and we pretty much bribed her into it (by threatening to send an _extremely_ bad text to everyone in her contacts).

  “I... I... I didn’t say _I_ would get you coffee,” she dusted herself off, “I said you’d _get_ coffee.”

  “...I don’t get the difference.” Neither did I, but there was still time to send that text...

  “I mean I’ll show you the coffee place because there’s _no_ way I’m becoming your personal coffee slave.” For a second, I thought I saw something glimmer in her eyes, but it was gone before I had a chance to look.

  Deprived of caffeine, Emma huffed. “ _Fine_ then! Just get me something inside me that’ll wake me up!” So all three of us walked out the door, ready for our first adventure in New York.

 

  All the while we walked, me and Emma couldn’t help but be amazed at the place around us. Even though we weren’t in the main hub of the city, there was still a certain electricity to the place; I could feel it humming all over.

  Luckily for the sanity of all three of us (Emma had started complaining about the colour of her shoes from her lack of caffeine), the trip was only short, and soon enough we found ourselves standing outside somewhere that _wasn’t_ a Starbucks, but was a medium-sized place called The Best Drip. It was fairly modern, but still had a homely feel to it. I fell in love with the place instantly.

  Confidently, Jodie strolled up to the counter, us two in tow. Everything inside just felt so real, making me doubt whether my initial impression of New York was wrong.

  “Hey,” a guy behind the counter greeted us, flashing a dazzling smile towards Jodie. His medium-length chocolate brown hair was slightly ruffled and looked soft and touchable, so much so in fact, I had to stop myself from going and stroking it. I instantly waited for her to go red, but surprisingly she didn’t.

  “Hey Alex,” she smiled back at him. “These are the two I was telling you about before.”

  “The ones that were threatening to send...”

  “Yep,” she turned around to give us an evil stare, “those two precisely.” He looked back at us two with his dark, mesmerising eyes, and I swear I heard the smallest gasp escape from Emma’s mouth.

  With yet another amazing smile, he introduced himself. “Hey, I’m Alex, also known as Coffee Guy by most of these fine folk in here,” he rolled his eyes suggestively and I nearly had to suppress a giggle. “So you two are the ones who’ve been terrorising poor Jodie then?”

  “It’s not our fault, we were made to! It’s the kettle’s fault!” Nice going Emma. Even I think you’re clinically insane now.

  Alex looked back at Jodie. “...So I’m guessing she’s Emma then?” A grin exploded onto her face, as well as mine. Emma, however, looked slightly more offended by this.

  “Yes I am, and if I don’t get any coffee within the next twenty seconds, I will hold the lot of you hostage, got it?”

  “Right ahead of you,” Alex turned around and grabbed three cups before handing them to me. “Don’t worry, she’s not the first person to threaten me over lack of caffeine,” he winked cheekily at me, and I followed Jodie to a spare table in the corner.

  After two sips of the hot, smooth coffee, I just had to ask Jodie. “So what’s the deal with Alex then?” Her eyes widened, almost like a cartoon character. We were lucky that she didn’t spray her drink over us all.

  “W-what do you mean?” Her gaze became erratic, jumping between me and her own cup of tea constantly.

  I rolled my eyes at her. “What’s the deal between you and Alex? I mean, you guys seem...”

  “Oh my God Sophie, just say it!” Emma screeched, thankfully for us a lot quieter than usual. Clearly the caffeine was starting to kick in, just not fast enough. “Are you guys together or what?”

  Almost in an instant, Jodie’s cheeks flared bright red, a telltale sign that there was something she didn’t want to tell us, either because it was embarrassing or she thought we’d tease her about it. “Um, no,” she mumbled, nearly inaudible to both me and Emma who were sitting mere centimetres away from her.

  “Well it’s obvious that you two have something going on,” Emma kept pushing.

  “No,” Jodie replied, almost sounding like she was disheartened, “he’s just my friend here.” Silence passed between us for a couple of seconds. “Anyway, it wouldn’t matter if I was interested, Vanessa’s all over him as it is.” She pointed behind us to a girl who was currently waiting on a table, and she had long flowing blonde hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail, a pop of colour on her plump lips – and possibly the shortest skirt I had ever seen anyone wear.

  Emma, not being one for subtlety, voiced her opinion immediately. “Pssh, her? She looks like a prostitute.”

  Jodie raised her eyebrow. “And you think that’s not what guys go for?”

  “Not the good ones,” I added in, “looks don’t count for everything, you know.” She stared at me like I was crazy – what, it was the truth. Well, at least it _should_ be, not to mention any names...

  “Trust me, you won’t be saying that in a week’s time,” her face dropped massively, but she quickly composed herself when she saw Alex making his way over.

  “So have you mentioned to these two yet about Saturday?” At that moment, I was screaming in my mind for Emma to keep her mouth shut, knowing that she wasn’t known for thinking things through before letting the words out of her mouth.

  “Oh, no, not yet.” Quickly glancing at her watch, Jodie jumped up from her seat. “Sorry, I’ll have to tell you guys later, I’ve got to head to work. See you Alex.” While Jodie made her way swiftly towards the door, Emma started talking to Alex, causing every muscle in my body to tense up.

  “What’s this about Saturday then?” I couldn’t tell if she was trying to flirt with him or intimidating him. However, Alex failed to notice this and just flashed another dazzling smile at us, which I did not mind one bit.

  “Oh, me and my band are playing this set, and Jodie said that you guys might be interested in coming along.” My eyes lit up, along with Emma’s – a cute guy who was in a band! What could be better? Well, as long as the music was decent, but Jodie wasn’t into any of that shit in the charts, so it could only be good.

  Before I could answer, Emma replied. “Yes! We’d love to!” A bigger smile spread across his face.

  “Cool.” He looked back at the counter, where a queue of people was starting to form. “Well looks like I’ve got to go and serve all those happy people. I’ll see you around.” We watched him walk back, and Emma raised her eyebrows at me, saying ‘I LOVE this place!’ I definitely had to agree with her.

 

  So me and Emma stayed in the coffee shop for a little longer, trying to adjust to how things worked over here, but soon we decided that we should go out and properly explore the place that we were now living in – by finding out what good shops there were.

  At first we managed to get ourselves a bit lost, though eventually I found our way, no matter what Emma says. We made our way into Hot Topic, and within three seconds on entering the store, I had lost Emma. It wasn’t a big deal, however, as she would find me when she was ready. And attack me in ninja style.

  After checking out all the CDs and clothes, I decided to have a quick look at the magazines. While browsing through, I noticed Musique, the magazine that I was going to work at as band photographer, so I thought I’d just have a quick look through it to see what it was like – and my heart stopped. One of the bands that was going to be featured in the next issue was You Me At Six, also known as one of my favourite bands ever, and _I_ was going to be the one photographing them! Before I could do anything else, Emma appeared by my side, and was intrigued when she noticed my lack of breathing.

  “What’s wrong with you now?” Being unable to speak, I merely jabbed at the magazine, over and over again. Her eyes widened, and her thoughts became on the same wavelength as mine, before squealing loudly, and for once, I joined in with her, though seven seconds later we were told to quieten down. “Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!!! I LOVE you for bringing me here!!!” She pulled me into what was possibly the world’s tightest hug, and I couldn’t help but let the biggest grin stretch across my face, knowing that this was definitely the beginning of a very good adventure.

 

  For the rest of that day, we just wandered around the city, trying to find more good stores, but when Emma started to complain that her feet were hurting, we quickly made our way back to our apartment. It still felt weird to say that, _our_ apartment; it made me feel a lot more grown up than I actually was.

  Not being bothered to cook (or able to, for that matter. Jodie was the best cook out of all of us, and the best that she could manage was pulling something out of the freezer), we called out for some pizza, exhausted from our first full day of living in New York. A couple of minutes after our pizza arrived, Jodie headed through the door, grabbing the best slice of pizza that was left (thank God Emma didn’t lick it like she was threatening to).

  “Hey Jodie,” Emma said, her mouth so stuffed full of toppings that it was nearly impossible to understand what she was actually saying. Jodie just stared at her, unable to say anything.

  “Hey,” she mumbled back in response, not making much effort to eat her own slice. We sat in silence for about a minute, neither of us wanting to ask the question. Unfortunately for Jodie, Emma does not have the gift of patience.

  “What’s wrong with you? You were all happy before, now...” Emma cautiously waited for a reply.

  Jodie sighed. “Just today... Vanessa came into the store, and she was buying all these _ridiculous_ clothes and flirting with every guy within ten metres of her... sorry, it doesn’t matter.” And with that, she went and locked herself in the bathroom. Just when I had finished my cream soda.

  I knocked on the door, trying to coax her out. “Come on Jodie, you shouldn’t worry about her. Only idiots go for girls like her.”

  “Most of the male population _are_ idiots, Soph. They don’t care as long as they get what they want.”

  “Most guys actually _want_ a relationship, not just a one-night stand,” I replied, “plus Alex doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would do that.”

  “And if he is,” Emma shouted from the sofa, “just send him to me, and I’ll sort him it.”

  I closed my eyes. “Not helping Emma!”

  “Sorry, sorry. I’ll just eat your pizza instead then.” Ignoring her, I focused back onto getting Jodie out of the bathroom.

  “Look, not every guy in the world is the same, okay? You just have to know which ones are the good ones.” There was silence for a couple of seconds before Jodie spoke up.

  “...You need the bathroom, don’t you?”

  “No! Well... yes,” I admitted, “but that’s beside the point.” A few seconds later, the lock turned and the door opened, revealing a red-eyed and smudged eyeliner Jodie. Instantly I hugged her, hating how much she was killing herself over all this. For once in her life, Emma managed to look away from her food for more than three seconds.

  “Stop worrying about it, and if it doesn’t go to plan, then you can become lesbian with me and Soph.” Luckily, this made Jodie laugh.

  “That’s an... idea,” I laughed along. A couple of seconds later, I spoke again. “...Don’t suppose I can use the toilet now.”

  “Yes you can,” Jodie chuckled whilst untangling herself from the hug, and I managed to sprint into the bathroom just in time.


	2. Chapter 2

**_ Thursday _ **

  Waking up, I couldn’t help but have the biggest grin ever on my face – today was my first day at Musique as band photographer! Laying there for a few minutes, I tried to wrap my head around how the hell my life got this good, and it was when I was in the middle of daydreaming that Emma decided it would be a good idea to jump on top of me.

  “Wake up you lazy arse, I want breakfast!” I shoved her onto the floor, not caring that she took my covers with her.

  “You’re twenty-one woman!” I shouted back at her. “Surely you’re old enough to make your own breakfast now!”

  She stood up, pouting at me in the darkness. “But Jodie said she’s not doing breakfast until you’re up.” I knew why Jodie had said that. She knew I would only get up at the last possible second, by which time Emma would had left for her job at Starbucks. “And my stomach’s rumbling. Listen.” Emma shoved her stomach in her face, so I responded in the only way possible – by tickling her until she moved out of my reach. “Fine then, don’t have breakfast!” She stormed out of the room, shouting, “Jodie! I want pancakes!”

  Faintly, I heard her reply. “No pancakes unless Soph’s up.”

  “I don’t care! Give me the damn pancakes woman!” After that, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it didn’t matter; I was too damn happy to care.

  Five minutes later, I got out of bed, determining that I would be safe from the wrath of a hungry Emma. In the bathroom, I spent every second making sure I made myself look as flawless as possible, as well as trying to decide in my mind what I would wear. Eventually, I decided on a Bullet For My Valentine top, along with some black skinny jeans and a pair of green Converse that I ‘borrowed’ from Emma a while ago. Once I was ready, I cautiously ventured my way out into the living room.

  “ _Finally_ the lazy ass is up!” Emma rolled her eyes at me; I stuck my tongue out at her. “Jodie! Pancakes! Now!”

  “What is the deal with you and damn pancakes?!” Jodie walked in, holding a big plate of freshly made pancakes. “There you go,” she put them on the table with a _thud_ , “now can I please get to work?”

  Emma hurriedly scooped up several pancakes onto a plate, and looked around with a puzzled expression on her face. “Where’s the maple syrup?” She shouted back to Jodie.

  “I don’t care! Find it yourself!” And with that, she slammed the apartment door shut.

  Silence passed for a second or two. “I don’t think she’s very happy with me.”

  “Geez, you think?!” I replied, shoving some of the pancake into my mouth. It tasted heavenly, but I could barely concentrate on eating, being so excited and nervous over my first day at work; I was still finding it so hard to wrap my head around the fact that I would be the one taking pictures for the You Me At Six photo shoot! Okay, so there was another reason why I was so excited – I might have had the teeniest tiniest crush on Max, the guitarist, and maybe I was secretly hoping that he would be so amazed by my photography skills that he’d ask me out...

  “Dude, you’re gonna be late.” There was no way that was true; I had six minutes left when I last looked.

  “No I’m not, you just want my pancakes.”

  She sighed, and showed me her watch – she _was_ right, I was a minute and a half behind.

  “Shit,” I mumbled to myself, rushing around the apartment picking up random things. “Well surely that means you’re late too smart ass.”

  “Nuh uh,” she spoke with a mouthful of starch, “tis my day off today, so I shall be writing.”

  “When you’re not busy stuffing your face,” I mumbled to myself. Thankfully, she didn’t hear me. “Okay, I’ll see you later then.”

  “Okay, have a good first day. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” I headed out of the apartment, anxiously anticipating work. Though I still managed to catch a glimpse of Emma stealing my remaining pancakes.

 

  Relaxing myself from this morning, I strolled into the offices of Musique, the place where I would make a name for myself. Everything in it felt so relaxed, a _lot_ different to what I thought it would be like; it seemed like I would have to change my initial impression of New York. As confidently as I could, I strolled up to the shiny counter in the middle of the room.

  “Hi,” I tried desperately to keep my voice under control, “I’m the new band photographer here…”

  “Ah yes, Miss Humphries,” the black-haired woman behind the desk replied. “Just wait here and the editor should be down in a few moments.” I sat myself down in one of the chairs, taking the opportunity to take in the surroundings that would become my domain. The walls were covered in paintings of different artists and bands, some more familiar to me than others, but they each came to life in their own unique way – this definitely felt like my kind of place to work.

  “Miss Humphries?” A deep voice snapped me out of my daydream, and I saw a man standing before me who couldn’t have been much older than twenty-eight. “I’m Seth Green, editor at Musique.” He extended a hand towards me, and I shook it. “I’ll show you around the place, and then I’ll hand you over to our most senior photographer and let her deal with everything else, okay?”

  “Sure,” I nodded, and I followed him towards the lift. The first stop was, what else, the vending machines.

  “Trust me,” he said, “when you’re working to a tight deadline, these become your greatest friend.” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be scared at that moment, so I settled on some nervous laughter instead. The rest of the tour didn’t take that long, just a few basic things like toilets and stuff, so a few minutes later we entered the photography studio.

  “Chelsea, I want you to meet our new band photographer,” Seth yelled across the studio. A red-headed woman (though it was obviously not natural) turned around, and I swear I could see the venom seeping out of her eyes. Walking across the studio towards us, she had that ice queen feel to the way she moved, everyone around her cowering at her mere presence in the room. “This is Sophie, recently moved from England.”

  Chelsea stared at me, looking over me from top to bottom, inspecting the state that I was in. “It’s a... pleasure to meet you.” She forced a painful smile, yet made no attempt to shake my hand like everyone else had.

  Seconds of silence passed between us, before Seth broke the tension that was building. “Well, I’ve got to go now. I’m sure Chelsea will ease you into your first day of work.” Briefly, he addressed the people busying themselves in the background. “You lot, make sure I get those shots on my desk by three sharpish, no later.” And with that, he walked out of the studio, suddenly making myself feel very self-conscious about being left alone (pretty much) with Chelsea.

  Once everybody was out of earshot, she addressed me again, although this time it was a lot harsher. “Listen here you. I don’t want you thinking that you’re better than everybody else just because you swanned your way into here. If it was up to me, I’d have you begging on your knees for this job. Do you know how many respected photographers applied? Seven. Do you know how many applicants we had over all, including you? Damn close to two-hundred and fifty. So if I was you,” she stared me straight in the eyes, “I’d make sure not to screw this up, otherwise your photography career will be over just like that, you hear?” Too terrified to speak, I nodded. “Good. Now, see those lenses over there?” She pointed to a table in the corner. “I want them all cleaned by eleven, understand?” Yet again, I nodded. Then instantly started to panic when I saw just how many lenses there were. There must have been nearly twenty lenses on that table, and it was already half nine – I was going to need a miracle to get them done by eleven. Nonetheless, I got to work, methodically cleaning each lens until it was spotless and gleaming. I was proud that I had managed to do such a menial task in such a short amount of time – until Chelsea came over.

  “These still have marks on the lens,” she scrutinised harshly. “This is not acceptable work for an hour and a half. If we were all this sloppy, none of us would have a job!” Dumping the lens back onto the table, she gave me an evil glare. “Do it again, and do it right.” Waiting until she moved away, I kicked the wall, hard.

  “Don’t let her get to you. She’s only here cus she gives head to Seth,” a voice behind me chirped up. I turned around, and saw a girl with mousy-brown hair with a small smile on her face. “Hey, I’m Desiree, but most people just call me Ree.”

  “Hey,” I replied back, still soaking in my own anger, “I’m Soph. I don’t normally kick walls.” She laughed at that, though it sounded more like a high-pitched giggle.

  “Desiree!” _That_ voice screeched in the background. “I need to see the shots from yesterday’s shoot. Now!”

  Ree turned back to me. “Well, I guess I’d better get over to the Wicked Witch. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Sure,” I said, a genuine smile beginning to appear on my face, and I turned back to the lenses, realising that my job so far had been to do something that almost anybody could do.

 

  For the rest of the day, I pretty much cleaned – lenses, the studio, the darkroom, the toilets (that last one is a joke, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Miss Bitch had made me do it); it was like a day from Hell. So after that _eventful_ first day at work, I was relieved to be finally going back home.

  Hauling my weary legs up all the stairs, I searched around in my back pocket for me keys, when I noticed a man I had never seen before waiting outside my apartment door. Trying my best to ignore him (he was very hot, especially compared to some of the guys I had seen while at work), I put the key into the lock and turned, when at the same time a hand on my shoulder turned me round.

  “How come you’ve got a key to Zack’s place?”

  “Um... who?” I answered, bewildered by the question.

  “You know, Zack,” he pushed on. “Guy that lives here.”

  “ _I_ live here. Have done for the past three days.” Now it was _his_ turn to look confused.

  “But Zack lives here...” Before he could carry on, his phone went off. “Give me a sec,” he said, holding a finger up to me while answering his phone. “Hey dude. Yeah, I’m free tonight. Listen,” he turned back to face me, “what’s the deal with Zack, cus I’ve got this chick standing here telling me that she lives in Zack’s apartment now...” After that, he was silent for a couple of moments, listening in deep concentration to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying. “What do you mean he moved?” His voice made me jump. “I never got a text! Well... thanks man, I’ll talk to you later.” In one swift movement, he slid his phone into the back pocket of his jeans (which clung to him in every right way), and stared at me with his beautifully enticing brown eyes, leaving me near-speechless. To avoid looking like a gawking idiot, I said that first thing that came to my mind.

  “Yeah... Zack doesn’t live here anymore.” Instantly, I regretted the dumb words that I let out of my mouth, but instead of looking at me as if I was crazy, the guy burst out with laughter.

  “Hahaha, I think that’s stating the obvious.” Catching his breath, he walked over to me and extended his right hand. “I’m Jack by the way, sorry to include you in this mess.”

  I shook his hand, loving how warm it felt compared to my own cold, clammy hands. “Sophie. And don’t worry about it.”

  Slowly, possibly slower than he should have done, Jack took his hand back, staring me all the while. His hair was an irresistibly dark shade of brown to match his close-to-perfection eyes, and it stood on end like he had been electrocuted, which from what I had already gathered about him, would not be the biggest surprise in the world. Still impossibly lost in his gaze, he spoke again. “You’re not from here, are you?” Wow, this guy was about as fast as a snail getting a lift on a turtle.

  “No,” I responded, desperately trying to stifle a laugh, but somehow I don’t think he would have minded that much if I doubled over in laughter. “I came over here a few days ago. From England.” Yeah, because the accent didn’t give it away at all.

  Nevertheless, Jack seemed impressed. “Wow, that’s really cool! So how long do you plan on staying over here, or is this a permanent thing?” He folded his arms and leant against the wall, making my heart race faster at the thought of him wanting to be here talking to me.

  “Well I’m going to be living here for a while, if that’s what you mean,” I laughed subconsciously, thinking that he might have been hoping that Zack was going to come back and live here. “I got offered a job as band photographer at Musique...” Jack’s mouth dropped open, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.

  “Seriously? You work at Musique? Dude,” the biggest smile spread across his face, “me and my band have been trying to get into that for _ever_! How did you manage to get in, cus I swear that place is harder to get into than a candy store at night!” This time, laughter escaped from me before I had chance to react, but I didn’t mind – this guy was so obviously funny, and he knew it. Plus he was in a band, so now his hotness factor just skyrocketed (and yes, that was the general rule).

  “I just got good at taking photos, fast.” I don’t know whether this could be classed at flirting, but I noticed the smallest, cutest grin appear on his face for just a second.

  I saw Jack begin to open his mouth, but was once again cut off by his phone. “Guess someone doesn’t want me to be talking to you,” he joked, though in all honesty I was praying that _he_ wanted to talk to me. A quick glance at his phone, and he started to make his way to the stairs. “Well, it was nice meeting you Sophie.”

  “It was nice meeting you too.” Even though I’m sure I meant it in a very different way to Jack, I still couldn’t help grinning like an idiot.

  Once he had gone, I entered the apartment, thanking Zack for having lived here.


	3. Chapter 3

**_ Friday _ **

  When I woke up, I wasn’t greeted with the feeling of satisfaction like yesterday, but the overbearing gloom and fear that was my job. I pulled the covers up over my head, praying it would make everything around me go away – and then groaning when they didn’t.

  “Sophie! Get up for the goddamn waffles!” I didn’t respond, hoping Emma would shut up for more than ten seconds about food. However, it seemed to have the opposite effect on her, and I just about noticed her opening my door. “Soph? You dead?” I remember groaning at her to go away. Which is why I ended up with no covers on top of me for a second morning in a row. “Come on Soph, you have to get up for waffles!”

  “I don’t want waffles,” I muttered, trying to shield my eyes from the light that was suddenly streaming into my room.

  “Good thing I’m not making them then,” Jodie strolled into my room – nice to know we were having a meeting all of a sudden. “What’s wrong?”

  “Work sucked,” I sat up, not caring that I was wearing my old, tatty pyjamas, “and it’s all because I have a bitch for a boss. I didn’t even get to take any pictures yesterday!” Okay, so maybe that was because there were no photo shoots that day, but still, I need to at least know how to make the best use of the camera!

  Emma jumped onto my bed, sitting beside me. “Well somehow I don’t think they’ll be happy if you suddenly call in sick, and you need to save calling in dead for later, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to grin and bear it for the moment kiddo.” She turned to Jodie with a murderous glint in her eye. “Now, what’s this about no waffles?”

  Jodie stood her ground. “What part of ‘I’m not going to be your slave’ do you not understand?” She turned back to me. “Look, just focus on the photo shoot for You Me At Six, and you should be able to survive long enough to realise your dream of being with Max will become a reality.” She rolled her eyes heavily, but Emma didn’t see the funny side in it.

  “It will happen, just you wait and see!” Jodie sighed; she wasn’t as used to Emma’s craziness as I was.

  “I’m just saying; focus on something that will make it all worthwhile. Now, do you think you’ll be able to meet me later on?”

  “Sure, where?”

  “At the coffee shop.”

  “Why do you call it a coffee shop?” Emma butted in. “All you ever drink there is tea!”

  Clearly Jodie had had too much Emma for one morning. “Whatever, I’ve got to go to work. See you later.” She walked out of my room and the apartment.

  A minute later, a light bulb went off in Emma’s head. “She’s had waffles, I can smell them.” I facepalmed myself – well what else could I do with a friend like Emma?

 

  After yet another hellish morning at work (still no bands for a photo shoot...) I met up with Jodie, hoping to drown my sorrows out with coffee. And maybe a peanut butter cookie.

  “So how was this morning?” I groaned, laying my head on the table.

  “She was just as evil as yesterday,” I muttered into the table, “she had me organising shots. That’s a freaking intern’s job, not mine!”

  “Come on, you’ve just gotta hold in there. A shoot’s got to be coming up soon, and then you’ll be able to do all the photography stuff that you do.”

  I lifted my head up to look at her. “She treats me like I’m a freaking _idiot_! I’m not an idiot, I know how to take pictures. It’s all just because she thinks that she’s better than everyone else!” By this point, I was nearly screaming, “I don’t know how much more of her I can take!” Quickly, I stood up from the table, excusing myself, and once I reached the bathroom, I kicked one of the stalls doors, thinking I had nearly taken it off the hinges. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I could take it anymore; was that all it took, two days with a Demon woman, to push me over the edge? Calming myself down, I leant over the sink, taking deep breaths before I returned back to Jodie, but just as I was ready to leave, someone entered. Bracing myself for the worse, I made it look like I was redoing my eyeliner (which I actually needed to – proof that people _can_ destroy your looks), and breathed a silent sigh of relief when it wasn’t Jodie who walked through the door.

  “Yeah things are fine with me,” the person talked into their phone, “and I have a feeling, no, wait, I _know_ he’s going to ask me out soon.” Casually she strolled to grab some paper tissue to clean her hands that weren’t even dirty. “Well it’s so obvious Frankie! Look... you just wouldn’t understand. Anyway, his band’s playing this thing tomorrow...” At that point, my head snapped up, and I found myself looking at Vanessa. Suddenly her conversation became _very_ interesting; obviously she was talking about Alex. “You’re not getting me! Of course he’s gonna want me there to be supporting him! Plus there’ll be lots of other cute guys there too...” That made me beyond angry; out there was a perfectly good girl who was too shy to tell Alex that she liked him, and here is a girl who would probably flash anyone that she thought she could get laid by. Once I heard her say that, I knew that I had to get out of there before I did something that I... okay, I wouldn’t regret it, but I still needed to go.

  Once I was outside that door, I felt a lot better, though I still needed a second to compose myself before going back to Jodie. Glancing around, my eyes landed on Alex at the counter, standing with a notepad in front of him and a pencil in his hand. There was a customer in front of him, but he didn’t seem to be paying any attention; instead, he was staring at something over in the corner of the coffee shop, something that had completely taken over his focus. After a second or two, he seemed to doodle on the notepad, utterly lost in his own little world. Curious, I looked to see where his gaze lay at – and it landed straight on Jodie. I checked again, making sure that my eyes weren’t deceiving me, and they weren’t. Focusing back on Alex, I saw him continue to stare, continue to doodle, until the customer snap their fingers in front of his face, awakening him from his daze; I chuckled to myself silently. I thought to myself whether I should tell Jodie about this, but then I thought better of it – if it was nothing, I didn’t want to get her hopes up, though if it was something, I didn’t want to be interfering with them. Calmly and cheerfully walking back over to Jodie, my face held a smile. Maybe not a big one, but it was enough to see me through the day.

 

  Somehow that peanut butter cookie _really_ helped me, and I managed to make it through the rest of the afternoon without murdering someone or destroying private property. As soon as I walked through the apartment door, I flopped down onto the couch and closed my eyes, hoping that I could just let everything fade away, if only for a moment. I was finding it very hard to believe that everything had already become difficult after only a few days – what was it actually going to be like once I had gotten into a proper routine? When I opened my eyes again, however, I found Emma and Jodie on the other couch, looking at me in a _very_ strange way, even for those two.

  “What’s up?” I asked, rubbing my eyes whilst sitting up, which actually isn’t as easy to do as it seems.

  “Dude, you look exhausted,” Emma came and sat by me, “are you okay?”

  “Of course I am,” I replied, confused, “I’ve only been taking a nap for a few minutes.

  “You were asleep when we got here, and that was nearly two hours ago.” Jodie handed me a cup of coffee; I accepted and drank it, instantly feeling it waking me up.

  “It’s just moving and stuff, probably jet-lag. Seriously,” I looked at both of them, “don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” They glanced at each other, sharing what seemed to be a look of worry, but they decided against it.

  “Okay then Soph, but pinky promise you’ll tell us if something’s wrong?”

  I looked at Emma’s pinky, knowing that to her, this was a serious as any legal contract. “Yes, I pinky promise to tell you if something is wrong,” I said whilst clasping my pinky around Emma’s.

  “Good,” Emma smiled at me; it seemed suspicious, but I decided to ignore it. “Now, what are we eating?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Jodie moved out of room, very quickly, in an attempt to escape from Emma before it was too late. “Don’t you think you’re getting away from this! My belly is in desperate need for pizza. You hear that, desperate!”

  “Why don’t you call for some pizza, you lazy pig?” The response didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would, but, hey, it’s Emma – she wouldn’t get the hint if Jodie was standing over her with a knife.

  Something happened that I never thought I would witness in my entire life – Emma went silent for a moment. “...Fine then, but I’m holding you responsible if it’s not here within half an hour!”

  “How the hell would it be my fault?” Jodie came storming back into the room. “I’m not the one delivering the freaking pizzas, am I?”

  Emma rolled her eyes, like Jodie was actually meant to know what she meant. “Just tell me what toppings you want. Then we can order the pizza.” She spoke very slowly, as if she were addressing a child. “Do you understand me?”

  Jodie replied in the same patronising tone. “Yes I do. And I don’t mind, as long as there’s mushrooms. But no peppers, okay? Cus peppers are just... bleugh.”

  “No mushrooms!” Me and Emma said in unison, something that wasn’t that strange for us. Jodie stared at us both, the annoyance bubbling on the edge of her lips.

  “Fine then, get the damn pineapple stuff! We all know there’s only one reason why you have it anyway!” That certain mental image popped into my mind, and I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot, gorming away at nothing at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**_ Saturday _ **

  For once since being in the new apartment, I was allowed to wake up in my own time without having to deal with morning Emma; instantly, I thought the worst.

  “Emma?” I carefully called out, scared that there might be someone else in the apartment too. Making my way out to the living room, I noticed a small piece of paper placed on the table, which was covered with blue ink. Reading it, I sighed at how typically Emma it was. _Sophie,_ it read, _since you’re Miss Lazy Ass of the year, me and Jodie went out to get coffee (well, I went for the coffee, Jodie went for the tea. Actually, I went for the view too, if you get who I mean ;) Oh crap, don’t let her know I put that. Actually, I think she already knows. Does she know?), so we’ll be there whenever you wish to join us. Laavvv chuu, Emii xxx_

  I took my time getting ready, revelling in all the free time I had; the two-day work week had been sheer hell for me, and I could not wait to be able to relax with my two best friends. Once I was ready, I headed out the door and to the coffee shop.

  “Finally! You took your sweet ass time!” Emma shouted to me across the shop, causing everybody else to turn and look at me, which made me worry about falling flat on my face. I sat down beside them, taking a drink from the coffee cup in front of me, waking me up from a tiredness I didn’t even realise I had.

  “You’d better enjoy that drink, I had to say it was your birthday so you’d get it free,” a voice behind me spoke. Turning around, I saw Alex standing there with the biggest, cheesiest smile on his face, unable to keep up the serious act for even a few seconds.

  “Well my birthday’s only a couple of months away, so I guess you’re forgiven.” I returned his smile, not quite sure how his energy could be so infectious.

  “August 5th, right?” I nodded, speechless as to how he could have known that.

  He smirked, obviously aware of my shock. “Don’t worry, Jodie told me.” Instantly, I felt stupid; of course that’s how he would have found out.

  “God Sophie,” Emma teased me, “you really are stupid sometimes!” She addressed Alex, her hyper self spilling out into every word. “So how are you looking forward to tonight then?”

  “Yeah, I’m really excited, finally getting to play a decent gig for once! Though Jack better not do his normal crazy shit on stage.” A woman turned around and coughed at us. “Sorry,” he apologized meekly. When she left, he spoke again. “That’s the problem with working here, people judge you over fucking anything.” Jodie looked awkwardly down at her own cup, not wanting to cause herself any embarrassment, though I didn’t see how she could. “But anyway, I can get you guys backstage stuff if you want.” My eyes lit up – did he just say _backstage_?

  “Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod yes!!!” Emma practically screeched the whole place down!

  “Chill Emma,” I told her, “don’t have an orgasm over it.” She gave me the death stare, which just made me laugh even more.

  “Yeah,” Alex replied, completely oblivious to Emma’s reaction (or maybe he was just used to that kind of response. Who knew?) “I mean, Rian won’t be able to get in, but he’s fat and ugly, so...” He turned and looked at Jodie. “Hey, you okay? You’ve been really quiet this morning.”

  “That’s what she said,” Emma mumbled into her coffee cup. I slapped her arm; why couldn’t she ever learn about saying things at the appropriate time?

  Hazily, Jodie lifted her head – it looked like she was on the verge of tears. “I’m fine,” she shook her head, “just over-reacting to something.”

  Alex looked at her, unsure whether or not to believe her comment. “Okay then, but don’t stay like that for too long. I don’t like it when you’re upset.” And with that, he hugged her from behind, catching Jodie by surprise.

  “Hey Gaskarth,” a voice called out, “get back to work and do what I actually damn pay you for!” Alex closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down before going back to work.

  “And that proves my previous point exactly.” Letting go of Jodie, he faced me and Emma again. “Well, I’ll see you guys tonight then. And Jodie,” he turned back to her, “whatever’s getting you so upset, don’t worry about it; they’re not worth it.” With his parting words, Alex returned to his counter, leaving Jodie completely and utterly stunned.

  “...I wish he could hug me,” Emma thought aloud. I, however, was able to snap out of my daze and say something that actually made sense.

  “What was that all about?” I said, still confused by what had just happened.

  “I don’t know,” she replied, only half with us. For a couple of seconds we sat in silence, dumbfounded by it all. “I was looking through my old texts this morning.”

  Emma dumped her coffee on the table and sighed. “How many times have we told you, it isn’t going to help! I thought you’d deleted them already.”

  Cautiously, Jodie placed her head in her hands. “I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It meant too much for me to just delete them and have them removed from my life forever.”

  At this point, I decided to step in. “Okay, that’s it, hand me the phone.” Her eyes widened to the size of plates; she was over-protective of her stuff at the best of times. When her hand didn’t move a millimetre, I tried again. “Look, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way, and if we do it the hard way then there’ll probably be quite a large group of guys staring at us, so I wouldn’t recommend it.” Still her hand wouldn’t move, cradling the phone like it was the elixir of life.

  “I just can’t do it,” she breathed out just before the tears started rolling down her face. Me and Emma looked at each other; Jodie rarely cried, so we knew she must be upset.

  “Shh, don’t cry,” Emma comforted Jodie, stroking her arm as I grabbed the phone and began scrolling through the messages, deleting all the ones which had caused her so much heartbreak, and yet... yet they looked as innocent as anything. But that one guy alone had wrecked her so badly... it made me so angry just thinking about it. “Have you deleted them all?” Emma mouthed to me. I nodded, though it was more solemn than I originally thought it would have been.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have come here,” Jodie muttered, still fighting against the tears, “we would have been fine if I hadn’t.”

  I crouched by the side of her chair. “But long-distance relationships are hard work, and sometimes if the loneliness gets too much, then you find yourself doing something stupid. At least this way you didn’t have to go through that, you and Ed.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I regretted it beyond belief, knowing that hearing his name would make her feel a million times worse than she currently was.

  She pulled her knees closer into herself, holding onto them as if she was about to fall apart like a fragile china doll. “But I wouldn’t have been feeling like this, would I?” I went to give her a napkin to dry her eyes with, but there weren’t any on the table.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said to the pair of them, and rushed to the counter. “Can I have some napkins please?”

  A moment later, a head popped up from underneath, scaring me. “Don’t say I have to clean up,” Alex whispered strangely, “no, wait, say I do, then I can get away from here for at least five minutes.”

  “They’re for Jodie,” I awkwardly explained. “She’s kinda leaking from her eyes.” In an instant, his expression totally changed to one of complete and utter worry.

  “What’s wrong? It wasn’t because of what I said, was it? Oh God, I feel like an ass now...”

  “It’s not you,” I calmly explained, “she’s just finding it a bit hard to get over her ex cus she read some old texts for him and it made her remember... you know.” Somehow I doubted Alex would be able to sympathise, more likely being a heartbreaker himself than a heartbreakee, but instead, he just shook his head.

  “What kind of idiot would ever give her up, huh? Guys should be falling over themselves for that girl, but no, there has to be one _asshole_ that goes and makes her feel like crap.” Once again, he calmed himself down, handing me a box of napkins. “Wait there for a sec,” he said to me just as I was beginning to turn away. He ducked down beneath the counter, and surfaced again a few seconds later with a cookie in his hand. “Give this to her, it never fails to make her smile after a crappy day.” Confused, I took it anyway, and sure enough when I handed it to her, the smallest smile on her face appeared. How the hell that boy kept making her happy, I shall never know.

 

  The day passed uneventfully, and fortunately Jodie was feeling a lot happier by the evening. Emma, on the other hand, had gone to the point of sheer craziness, and that’s saying something.

  “Dudes, this is going to be AWESOME!!!” Emma kept squealing every ten seconds, as we anxiously waited at the back door for Alex to come and let us inside with his magic cards.

  Eventually he appeared, waving us past the security guards. “Don’t worry about them, it’s not like they’ve got any emotions anyway, the robots.” He rolled his eyes, obviously having been annoyed by them at one time or another.

  “Is there anywhere I can get a drink?” I asked, becoming thirsty all of a sudden.

  “Regular or special?”

  “What’s the difference?”

  He chuckled to himself. “Special ones will knock your ass off, so it’s best to leave those for after the show.”

  “Regular then, I guess.”

  “Just down there, in that crate on the right. We’ll be in the green room when you’re done.” Emma and Jodie followed Alex, leaving me alone, except for a couple of techs who were flittering around the place. I made my way over to the crate, not wanting to be separated for long, and grabbed the first bottle I could see. Turning around to head back, someone crashed into me, and quite painfully might I add.

  “Whoa, watch out there…” Looking at the person who knocked into me whilst rubbing the tender spot on my head, my mouth dropped in utter shock.

  “What are _you_ doing here?” I asked Jack, confused beyond belief.

  His eyebrows scrunched together. “I’m playing with my band, so why the hell are you here?”

  “I got a backstage pass from Alex,” I said, pointing in the direction where he had just headed.

  Jack snorted. “Pfft, that figures. What one-liner did he pull on you this time then?” I wish he’d stop confusing me, or at least start trying to make more sense.

  “He didn’t. He offered them to me and my two friends, Emma and Jodie…”

  “ _Ohhh_!” He yelled as he finally realised what the hell was going on. “I didn’t know you were friends with Jodie!”

  “Well now you know I am.” Whenever I was around this guy, I couldn’t help but smile insanely, usually at his or my own stupidity. “So… you’re the Jack in Alex’s band then?”

  “Yeah, last time I checked that was my name.” A couple of tech guys brushed past us, but we ignored them, too immersed in our conversation to even acknowledge them.

  A small smile spread across my face. “I heard you do some crazy shit on stage.”

  “It’s not just on stage that I do it,” he smirked, winking at me in a coy way. My stomach tossed and turned, hardly daring to believe that a guy _this hot_ was flirting with me.

  “Jack! We need your ass back here now!” Yet again, our conversation was cut short. And just when it was getting to the good bit as well!

  “Think it’s fate that we never seem to have very long conversations?” I asked him, considering fluttering my eyelashes at the same time, but I decided against it due to the fact that I can’t actually do it.

  “Sure hope not,” he grinned, “I like talking to you.”

  “Because I’m English?”

  “Yes Sophie, it’s because you’re English,” Jack laughed.

  We stood there for several seconds, neither of us wanting this moment to end. “God Sophie, how long does it take for you to get a freaking drink? Did it grow legs or something?” Emma came storming out, though she wasn’t actually annoyed. Her expression totally changed when she saw Jack (I had already told her about the hot, mysterious stranger outside the apartment that day).

  “Emma, this is Jack, the one in Alex’s band. Jack, this is Emma, my other English friend.” Before I could say another word, Emma’s mouth went into overload.

  “Oh my God, you’re that guy from outside the apartment? Yeah, Zack doesn’t live there anymore cus we live there now. It hasn’t even been a week yet and it’s already totally awesome! I can’t believe this is the first gig we’ve been to since living here, it’s crazy! Then again, I have been busy writing and working at Starbucks and begging Jodie for food cus she’s too mean to make me waffles...”

  “Emma, you’re doing it again.”

  “Doing what again?” She asked, puzzled.

  “Telling someone your life story in under thirty seconds.” She became bashful, something which I would probably never witness in my life again.

  “Is she always this weird, or is it...”

  “Nope, always that weird, but you get used to it after a while.” Emma pouted, obviously not pleased that it was possible to learn to deal with her insanity (yeah, that was something she was actually proud of). And speaking of crazy people… “Hey, where’s Jodie?”

  “I killed her and ate the remains,” she said with a devilish grin. “Not really dudes, I just left her with Alex. Alone.”

  “Do you see it too?” Jack asked us. “I mean, it’s so freaking obvious that he likes her, but does he do anything about it? No, because he’s stupid like that.”

  “ _She’s_ the stupid one!” Emma yelled. I glared at her, not believing that she had already forgotten this morning’s incident. “Okay okay, don’t blow a fuse,” she muttered quietly to herself.

  “I know he likes her,” I found myself saying, “he was staring at her the other day and writing something on his notepad as well. And she likes him cus… well, she pretty much told us in her own way.”

  “Which means denying it and then acting all depressed about it.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for that Emma.”

  “You’re welcome.” Obviously she has now become immune to my sarcasm, which really sucked because otherwise I could have told her to get lost so me and Jack could keep having our own private conversation like before. Reminder to self, must invent a code word with Emma so that she can get lost when I’m talking to a cute guy. “Hey, weren’t you meant to be somewhere?”

  “Oh fuck, yeah.” Jack looked around like he was a naughty schoolboy waiting to be punished by his teacher (but somehow I think that would produce a different mental image in his mind compared to mine). “Um, look, I’ll talk to you after the show, okay?”

  “Sure,” I nodded, thankful that Emma was keeping her mouth shut at that moment. We watched him leave, and I swear that no more than two seconds afterwards, Emma passed her judgement.

  “Why the hell didn’t you take a picture?!?! He’s HAWT!!! Dude,” she went serious now, “if you do not get him naked within the next four hours then I _will_ claim him as my own, understood?” I scoffed at her, then realised she would actually do that.

  “Okay then, but it won’t be my fault if he picks me over you because I’m just so awesome.”

  Emma snorted at this; obviously she has yet to realise my full awesomeness. “Sure, whatever. Now, what do you say we go spy on the two idiots?” I nodded eagerly, and followed her to the door behind which Jodie and Alex were. Going into our positions (Emma watched while I listened. And yes, we had done this before), we waited for something interesting to happen. And something did; sixteen seconds afterwards, the door opened, causing me to fall on top of Emma.

  Jodie stared at us, not knowing what to say – and then she remembered the conversation we had the other day. “I know you said I could become lesbian with you guys, but I didn’t think that meant you two were already together.”

  “Didn’t you know?” Emma stood up, picking me up in the process. “We’ve been together for seven years next Wednesday.” Placing an arm around my shoulders, she squeezed me close to her, so I tickled her until she let go so I could breathe again. Unfortunately, this meant that Jodie stopped breathing, and yet again fell onto the floor in a fit of giggles.

  “...Is she meant to do that?” Alex’s head popped out from behind the door, that look of half-concern, half-amusement on his face.

  “No, it means her batteries are dying.” A strange wailing sound came from the pile on the floor, causing us all to stare at her even further. “Come on Jodie, power up so we can watch them play.” She made no attempt to get up, still in desperate hysterics, so me and Alex picked her up while Emma poked her in the stomach.

  “Ow! What did you do that for, you retard?” Jodie scowled at Emma; she was always happiest when in a state of laughter.

  Emma merely rolled her eyes. “Can we go now? So that Alex can like go play with the rest of the band? Which, by the way, was the whole point of coming here.”

  “Oh what, so we all need _my_ permission to do stuff now?”

  “Nobody’s saying that Jodie,” I stepped in, worried that a repeat of this morning could be just around the corner. Which is why I also pinched Emma’s arm, so that she’d get the message to keep her mouth shut for at least the next two minutes.

  “Well I’ve really got to go now, but you’ll all be around afterwards, right?” Alex almost looked nervous, like it was the most important thing in the world whether we were staying or not.

  “Yeah, of course,” I replied quickly so that Emma didn’t get the chance to butt her nose into it, “Jack said he wanted to talk to me anyway.”

  A puzzled expression swept across his face, but before he had chance to pursue it any further, a tech guy came up to Alex. “We need you on stage now.”

  “Sure,” he absentmindedly replied. “I’ll see you all later then.” And with that, he pushed his way past the three of us, with that nervous expression beginning to appear on his face again.

  When he was a couple of metres away, Jodie called out to him. “Good luck! You’re gonna rock the place out!” With those few words, his face lit up, displacing that previous uneasy appearance, leaving us with that image in our minds as he passed out of a door. Once he had gone, Jodie turned back to us. “So what exactly were you doing pressed up against the door?” Neither of us responded, providing her with the answer she expected from us. “And why were you spying?”

  “We thought that maybe cus you two were alone...” Emma _really_ needed to learn when to keep her mouth shut.

  “Ever thought we could have just been talking?”

  “Well that’s why I was watching and Sophie was listening.” For that, I punched her arm. “ _What_?! It’s the truth!”

  Ignoring her, I tried my best to salvage the situation. “But we didn’t know that, did we? And if you _were_ just talking, we don’t know what it could have been about, do we?”

  “He was just telling me about the set-list and the reason for including each song.” I could have sworn her face dropped the slightest, but I couldn’t be sure. “So that’s it, nothing like what you were imagining in your minds, and trust me, the stuff you imagine is not good.”

  “And you would know that because...?” Luckily, before a big debate could begin between Emma and Jodie, some security guy came along and told us to move to the standing area, along with the rest of the cattle. Turns out those backstage passes can be quite handy; I managed to sneak into the photographer’s area, wanting to take a few pics. Well, it wasn’t like I was going to do that at work, was it?

 

  The show was fantastic, of course. After getting a few photos, I went and joined Jodie and Emma at the back (Jodie wasn’t a seasoned gig go-er like me and Emma, so we stood at the back for her safety). A couple more songs were played, everybody totally engrossed by the music. Then Alex said something that would incriminate him forever.

  “So this next song,” he spoke down the microphone, “this next song is about a girl that I know from the coffee shop I work in, and, well, she’s actually here tonight, so I just want to thank her, because she makes my whole day have some sort of meaning to it, and I won’t believe there’s a single person out there who doesn’t like her. It’s called Coffee Shop Soundtrack, and this one’s for you.” Some thought sparked in my brain, but it wasn’t until I heard the lyrics that it became a fire.

“Should I write myself out of the history books,  
And mark a place in time for every chance you took?  
Don't get me wrong,   
I know you've got your life in place,  
I've yet to take the hint, someday  
I'm sure I'll get the picture  
And stop waiting up.  
  
When it all comes down  
To a sunrise on the East Side,  
Will you be there to carry home  
The remains of my wasted youth?  
This wasted time on you  
Has left me shaking in waiting,  
Shaking in waiting for something more.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing – this song was about Jodie! Warily, I dared to sneak a glance at her, but no, she was completely oblivious to any inspiration that she might have had on the song.

  Emma punched me on the shoulder and began to mouth to me. “Do you think the song’s about...?” I nodded, not being able to say anything if I wanted to anyway. “Does Jodie know it’s about her?” I gave her my best ‘What do _you_ think?’ face; Jodie didn’t normally jump to conclusions, and when she did, it was always the wrong ones.

  “Hey, what are you guys up to?” The sound of Jodie’s voice made me jump, and both me and Emma spun around.

  “Um... I was just telling Sophie how she’s gotta get with Jack. Have you seen how hot he is?!” At first, it looked like she wasn’t going to believe us, but the song ended and everyone started to cheer, so her attention was diverted. We both gave each other our ‘close call’ look, and decided to drop the subject until a later time.

 

  “We’ve been All Time Low, thank you for having us!” After finishing off the set, Alex jumped off the stage, closely followed by the other guys, and fought his way through the crowd to make his way over to us. At first, they were bombarded by a wave of people, all wanting to get autographs and photos. And guess who was there with them too? That’s right, Vanessa.

  “Oh my God!” She screeched painfully, even for me (and I’ve known Emma for a _very_ long time). “That was incredible Alex! I especially liked Coffee Shop Soundtrack.”

  “Thanks,” he politely replied, “glad you could make it out here.”

  When Alex made no indication to carry on talking to her, Vanessa quickly made her way out of there, leaving them free to talk to us.

  “Sophie, Emma, this is our band. Obviously you know me, and I think you know Jack pretty well too, but this is Zack, our bassist,” an _incredibly_ well-toned guy with brown hair framing his face, “and this is Rian, our drummer.” A near-bald guy shyly waved at us. “So what did you think then?” Alex couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

  “It was amazing!!!” Surprisingly, it wasn’t Emma who squealed this, but Jodie. “I really can’t wait until the next show! You’d better be doing a CD soon, lemme tell you.” While Jodie and Alex were otherwise distracted, Jack came up to me and stole the camera right out of my hands.

  “Hey, pick on someone your own size!” I yelled at him. Being the big tease that he was, he held the camera above me, and every time I jumped for it, he moved it just out of my reach. “That’s not fair, I’m only little compared to you!”

  Jack nearly doubled over in laughter; I would have to get my revenge on him. “Chill Soph, I just wanna see the pics that you took.” How did he notice I was taking photos? He began to scroll through, studying each one in detail. “Wow, these are surprisingly good!” I pouted at him, but I smiled anyway. “Can we, like, buy these off you or something?”

  I shrugged. “Have them for free, I don’t mind.”

  “Really? Wow, thanks!” Jack gave me a hug, picking me off the floor in the process. I think I nearly kicked him, trying to work out why my legs weren’t on the floor anymore.

  “No, stop!” I screamed. “Put me down, I don’t like heights!”

  “How do you think I feel?” He said as he set me back down on the floor. “I’m always in the clouds, and it’s not helped by you small people!”

  “You did _not_ just call me a small person,” I glared at him.

  “Hey, you said it yourself.”

  “But _I’m_ allowed to, you’re not.”

  “Dude,” Emma butted in, “hot guy at nine o’clock. I’ll see you later.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I half-mindedly replied, when out of nowhere I was picked up off my feet yet again. “Jack! I’m going to KILL you if you don’t put me down right now!” But did he listen? Of course not; he swung me onto his shoulders, so I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck whilst he put my legs around his waist. “Do you really think you can kidnap me by giving me a piggy back?”

  “Well what does it look like I’m doing right now?” He really was _the_ definition of random. “You might wanna duck, there’s a door up ahead.”

  “And what if I don’t wanna?”

  “Then get prepared for a sore head.” I didn’t duck, thinking that I could escape, but of course Jack had already thought of that, and ducked himself anyway. “Did you really think I wasn’t going to duck?”

  “Well did you?”

  “No...”

  “Exactly, so be glad your head’s still intact.” For the last couple of hundred metres, he carried me in silence, with me comfortably leaning my saved head on his shoulder. “We have arrived, Your Majesty. Does one wish to get off thy Royal piggy back?” Jack said as he did what has to have been one of the worst impressions of a British accent I have ever heard.

  “Sure,” I giggled, “but I might need a bit of help to get to the ground.”

  “As you wish, madam.” He crouched to the ground, making it a lot easier for me to get off.

  “Thanks, but I think they’d know you were American if you ever went to England using that accent.”

  Jack looked genuinely insulted. “But I’m trying to sound like you! Come on, don’t you think I sounded just the teeniest bit like you?”

  “I sound _nothing_ like that!” I went to shove him on the chest, but with me being a short-arse, I only managed to get his stomach.

  “Ow!” He yelled, not caring if anyone actually heard him. “I’m telling!”

  “Ooh, I’m really scared now Jack. I’m sure... I’m sure Alex would give me a good telling off.” I could barely finish my sentence before gasping for oxygen through my tears of laughter. Eventually (though no thanks to Jack, who just stood there and stared at me like someone laughing was the strangest thing in the world, which set me off all over again), I managed to stop acting like an idiot, which is when I actually noticed for the first time just how alone we were. “How come you brought us all the way out here?”

  “You said our conversations kept getting interrupted, so I thought I’d take you somewhere where there wasn’t anyone else.” Looking around, I was finding it hard to believe what I was actually seeing; it looked just like all the pictures you see of New York at night, with all the skyscrapers lit up like Christmas trees, and the water in front reflecting every single pinpoint of light.

  “Wow,” I exhaled in one breath. “So this is where you bring every girl then?”

  He laughed like that was a stupid idea. “No, only the ones who want more than one thing.”

  “Guess I should go then,” I said as I pretended to turn around and leave. “I only came for the piggy back ride.”

  Not even two steps had been made as Jack grabbed my hand. “You know what I mean Sophie.” The smile that he gave me caused something more than butterflies in my stomach – it was like there was a horse stuck in there.

  “I know,” I said, making no effort to take my hand away from his. He led us to the railings at the edge, never letting go of my hand either.

  We stood there, awestruck. Well, at least I did anyway. “How did you find this place then?” I asked, unable to take it all in.

  Jack shrugged. “I just needed to get away from everything one day, and I just ended up here. Nobody else knows about it, so I hope you feel lucky,” he smiled at me, genuinely happy that I was here with him.

  “So how did All Time Low start?” After much thought, I asked him.

  “Well we actually come from Baltimore, in Maryland, and when we were in high school, one day Alex was bored and suggested we make a band, so we did. After a few years of not getting that far, we all thought we’d get more well-known if we tried to make it in a major city, and, well, the only place we could think of was New York. Now each of us a couple thousand dollars poorer, we get our break just in time.” It really sounded like a sob story, but I knew he wasn’t looking for sympathy; it wasn’t like he actually needed with his attitude.

  “Is it really that expensive to be in a band?”

  “Only if you don’t have an actual job as well. Seriously, Alex is the only one out of all of us to have a permanent job, and you know how much he hates it.”

  “So how the hell do you manage to pay for food and stuff?”

  “Mainly we scrounge from Alex, especially when he’s at work, but don’t tell him I said that, I think it’s still a secret from him,” Jack said as he placed a finger to his lips and winked at me.

  “He gives us free stuff when he’s at work. Actually, he’s only given me and Jodie free stuff. God, I really hope Emma hasn’t noticed...”

  We stared at the picture-perfect scene in front of us. “Why did you come here, really?”

  I sighed; I really wasn’t expecting him to ask me that. “Because I was sick of being told what to do all the time, and I thought moving somewhere else, a whole new country, would be random and wild and...”

  “...Unexpected?” Jack helped me out; words always seemed to be stuck on the tip of my tongue.

  “Yeah, and then I also thought being in a different country would give me more freedom as well. Well at least I thought that until I met my boss.” I mumbled that last bit, almost ashamed to admit that I hated Chelsea with a passion.

  “Come on, she can’t be _that_ bad!”

  “How come I haven’t taken one single picture then? How come she stuck me with all the jobs an amateur should be doing? How come she doesn’t treat me with _any_ fucking respect?!” I was seething, tears streaming down my face, unable to control them. Jack pulled me into a silent hug, stroking my hair for comfort. Incapable of doing anything else, I just stood there, letting his body heat radiate onto me, inhaling his scent which instantly began to calm me down. After the tears started to let up, I didn’t want to move away from Jack, feeling safe and secure with his arms wrapped around me. Then I thought about all my eye make-up running, and I couldn’t seem to move away fast enough. “Sorry,” I sniffled whilst rubbing my eyes, probably making them even worse, “I didn’t mean to make your top all wet and get it covered in all this gunk.”

  He reached a hand up to my face, wiping away a tear I hadn’t noticed had escaped. “Do you really think I’m more bothered about my shirt than I am you? I can wash this.” I stared at him, unbelieving. “What, you don’t believe me, do you?”

  “Sorry, it’s just that guys don’t tend to wash their clothes in England. They always get like their mum to do it or whatever.”

  “Well that’s what makes me special from all those other guys,” he grinned, “I wash my clothes all by myself.”

  “Somebody’s a big boy, isn’t he,” I joked with him, except I got it thrown right back in my face.

  “That’s not the only thing that’s big, baby.” Annoyed, I scowled at him, setting him off into uncontrollable laughter. “Let’s go find you a tissue, I’m sure you don’t wanna walk around with black all over your face.” I nodded, not even being able to remember what made me cry in the first place, and followed Jack, who lazily placed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him, which I let him do, cus, hey, it sure felt nice.


	5. Chapter 5

**_ Sunday _ **

  To be honest, I don’t even remember how I ended up back in my apartment, much less my bed, but I was still grateful for it anyway. Snuggling up into my duvet, I had just managed to get comfy again – and then I smelled cookies. Fresh ones, too. Needless to say, I was out of bed and into the kitchen before you had the chance to say ‘choc chip’, where I saw Jodie trying to clean up the flour that seemed to have gotten into every nook and cranny possible.

  “And why the hell are you making cookies at ten in the morning?” She jumped half a mile at the sound of my voice, nearly dropping the rest of the mixture on the floor.

  “Geez, do you have to sneak up on people like that?” Jodie dumped the bowl back on the side, and I reached for it, when she slapped my hand away. “Hey, I’m still making cookies from that, don’t steal.”

  “Okay,” I sneaked a chocolate chip when her back was turned, “but that still doesn’t explain why you’re making cookies.

  “Well Emma’s not here, so I’m taking this opportunity to bake without having anyone steal everything. Or at least I was until you came in here.”

  “Wait,” I paused in my quest for the cookie dough, “Emma’s not here?”

  “Yeah, she never came home last night, so it looks like we’re just waiting for her walk of shame anytime this morning.” Brushing the flour from her sleeves, Jodie proceeded to fill a final baking tray with cookie dough. “There you go,” she said as she practically threw the bowl at me. Immediately, I found a spoon and started to eat.

  “Who’re they for?”

  “Will you still have room after all that dough? Y’know I could have made an extra three cookies out of that!”

  “Sorry, I’ll make sure to pay you back,” I sarcastically commented whilst offering her a spoon. “So who are they for then? You don’t seem to be wanting to be answering my questions.”

  Jodie took the spoon and joined me in eating the dough. “They’re not for anybody in particular, I just wanted to make cookies, and like I said, Emma isn’t here to steal all the cookie dough before it’s been anywhere near an oven.” I nodded, satisfied with her answer. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to tease her a little though.

  “So they’re not for Alex then?” I raised my eyebrows suggestively, but all Jodie did was stare at me.

  “No, why would they be? I’m probably not gonna see him until tomorrow, and they wouldn’t be as good by then anyway.” We both went back to scraping the bowl for remains, letting the gorgeous smell invade the whole apartment. Once the bowl was pretty much licked clean (by me; Jodie had to get all the cookies out of the oven), I got ready, deciding to take a bath (while there was a chance for peace and quiet) so I could let everything wash away from me. It was definitely relaxing – hell, I think I nearly fell asleep twice! When I was done, I got out and got dressed, having completely lost track of time.

  “Damn,” I muttered to myself, “left the hairbrush in my room.” So I walked out of the bathroom to cross the short distance to my room – and was greeted by four people staring at me, an amused look appearing on all their faces.

  “You certainly scrub up well in the mornings, Soph,” Jack hollered to me.

  “Shut up,” I nearly screamed whilst covering my head with my towel. “You’re not allowed to see me until my hair’s done!” They all turned to look at Jodie, who only confirmed what I had just said.

  “It’s true. We’re not even so much as allowed to peep at her before she says we can.” I hurried into my room, brushing and drying my hair with the hair dryer for at least fifteen minutes, and then taking extra care with my make-up. Why the hell were they all here? I kept thinking to myself. If Jodie had lied to me, she was certainly gonna pay. And I mean worse than sending that text to all her contacts.

  Finally I was done (well, this was according to Jack’s constant comments to ‘hurry the hell up’), and I headed back out to all of them, where they all started to applaud me.

  “Well done, I think you’ve set a new world record for getting ready.”

  “Trust me Alex, if you actually knew how long some girls take, you’d be worshipping the ground I walked on.” After that, I felt pretty invincible.

  I heard a couple of ‘oohs’ coming from the guys. “Shut up Jack,” Alex grumbled as he whacked him on the leg.

  “Hey, I can’t help it if the girl speaks the truth. You hardly know any girls!” Sick of all the insults, Alex stood up and went into the kitchen.

  “There’s cookies! Anyone want one?” Jodie rolled her eyes, looking half-annoyed that her secret food had been discovered.

  “Yeah,” we all said at the same time. What can I say, great minds think alike!

  Alex returned, but only with five cookies, handing one to me, Rian, Zack, and Jodie before sitting down and eating his own.

  “Where’s mine dude?” Jack whimpered; he really did remind me of a puppy sometimes.

  In between mouthfuls, Alex replied. “You think I’m gonna get you one after you insulted me? Go get one yourself you lazy shit!”

  “But Zack insulted you twice on the way over here...” I couldn’t take it any longer, so I broke my cookie in half and handed a piece to Jack. “ _Thank_ you. See, you’re nice to me, unlike _certain_ people.” Alex was too busy with his cookie to even notice that Jack had said anything.

  “God, these are really good!” Zack said. “How d’ya magic these up?” I was about to butt in and try to impress them all with Jodie’s cooking skills, but she beat me to it.

  “I just got them from somewhere this morning, felt like having cookies.”

  Alex swallowed his mouthful. “You’re not cheating on me, are you? Cus it’s nice to know my cookies are appreciated too, you know!” We all laughed, though I wasn’t laughing at his whimpering, and it seemed Jack wasn’t either when I caught his eye. Settling down, a puzzled look passed over Alex’s face. “Wait... when I was in the kitchen, I swear I saw flour on the counter.”

  “That’s cus she made them,” I absent-mindedly mumbled to myself, except it ended up being a bit louder than that.

  Jack’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Seriously, you _made_ these?! Dude, you’ve gotta make some for me! I’ll love you forever if you do...”

  “Yeah, me too!” Alex begged as well.

  “Do you know how much food it takes to fill you two?” Jodie complained; so _that’s_ why she denied making the cookies in the first place. “I don’t think there’s that many ingredients on the planet!”

  “Fine, but can we still have some until there’s ‘enough ingredients in the world’ to fill us up?” Jack tried to bargain with her. It was obvious these cookies were like life or death to him.

  Jodie eventually caved into their pleas. “Okay then, but can I have them done for sometime next week? I won’t do it on time if I have to have them done by a specific day.”

  “I think the only day they know is tomorrow,” Rian answered her. “Can I have some as well please?”

  “...Do you just all want cookies?” Sheepishly, everyone nodded. Jodie sighed, knowing that a mammoth task was now ahead of her. “Fine, but I can’t promise when I’ll have them done, okay? You’ll all just have to be patient.”

  “But I can’t be! I want them...” However, before Jack could finish his complaining, the front door swung open, nearly taking it off the hinges, and guess who it was?

  “I SMELL COOKIES!!!” Emma screamed the place down, running into the kitchen to scoff down whatever remaining cookies there were. “These are _amazing_ Jodie, I love you!”

  “Thanks,” she weakly replied. “Turns out I’m making them for the next fifty years of my life.” All noises from the kitchen stopped, and she walked in holding the plate which now contained about three cookies out of the original twenty-four.

  “...Marry me?” Emma’s face was deadly serious, and it looked like she was about to get down onto one knee too.

  “Trust me,” I whispered to Jack, “you’re about a million times more patient than Miss Piggy over there.” He grinned at me, but not before stealing my remaining piece of cookie.

 

  The rest of the day was spent just generally chilling in the apartment, lounging about and eating the second secret stash of cookies that Jack somehow managed to find hidden behind all the pots and pans (what he was even doing looking there, I don’t wanna know, let alone why Jodie had hidden them there in the first place). It turned out that Emma’s walk of shame was from a guy called Craig’s place, but she wouldn’t give us any more information than that, apart from he’d promised to call her sometime next week, and that he was very, _very_ hot.

  While everyone else was distracted in God knows what, I managed to corner Jodie in the kitchen, away from the prying ears of the other people. “I thought you said you weren’t going to see Alex until tomorrow?”

  “I wasn’t,” she explained, also confused by it all, “there was a knock at the door, and they were just all stood there, wanting some food, so I let them in and fed them pancakes to shut them all up.”

  “Okay,” I replied, pondering for a moment how I managed to miss pancakes cooking, “but what I don’t get is how they knew that we lived here.”

  She stared blankly at me for a few seconds. “Soph, Zack lived here just before us. That’s how you met Jack.” Now was definitely one of those facepalm moments; how could I forget that? It didn’t even happen a week ago!

  “Yeah Soph, you really do fail yourself sometimes,” Jack yelled from the comfort of our couch.

  “This doesn’t concern you Jack!”

  “It does when I hear my name being mentioned!” He got up off the couch and joined us in the kitchen. “Now are you two going to stop being anti-social and join the rest of us?”

  “I like being anti-social,” Jodie muttered to herself as we were herded by Jack, who had grabbed like a seventh cookie from the kitchen. We joined the rest of them in the living room, with Jodie sitting on the floor next to the couch where Alex and Emma were, and me stealing Jack’s seat. Of course, he then decided we had to fight to the death for it, so not having the energy for any of those today, told him we were sharing or else he would have no cookies; needless to say, he agreed to share immediately.

  The television was set onto some random channel, and we were all just aimlessly talking about things, when a film came on which everyone seemed to be excited about.

  “Nooo,” Emma moaned, “I really wanna watch this, but I promised myself I was gonna go write now!”

  “Just do it later?” I suggested to her, knowing that half the time she wasn’t capable of thinking up these sensible ideas herself.

  “I can’t do that cus otherwise I’ll keep putting it off and then I’ll never get any writing done!” Standing up, she addressed us all. “Right, if I do not see you lot later, then don’t eat all my food, okay?” She skulked off into her bedroom, taking the main portion of the craziness with her.

  “Wait, so she’s allowed to go and be anti-social for hours on end, but I’m not even allowed a couple of minutes?” Jodie complained, as she went to steal Emma’s now vacated place.

  “Yeah, but she’s actually doing something productive,” Jack argued back. In an instant, me and Jodie looked at him and gave him the strangest stare ever.

  “Believe me, what she is doing behind that door is _not_ productive, it’s for her own... amusement.” Jodie knew exactly what I meant, and so began to turn a lovely shade of crimson.

  “...I don’t wanna know, do I?” Our expressions gave everything away to Jack.

  “Not even if your life depended on it.”

  We all sat there, engrossed in the film, so much so that we didn’t notice until it had finished that Alex had gone to sleep, with Jodie asleep on his shoulder. As I was going to wake them up, Jack placed a hand on my shoulder and told the rest of us to be quiet, before getting his phone out and taking a picture of it.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered furiously to Jack, who was unable to stop grinning at the sight of the pair.

  “This picture’s gonna be worth its weight in gold one day,” he said, taking another couple of pictures. “And anyway, just look how cute they are together.” Handing me his phone, I scrolled through the ones he had just taken, and he was right – they were so freaking adorable, it was nearly unbelievable. I was so busy looking at the pics, that I nearly missed Zack creeping back into the room with a marker pen. “What are you gonna do with that?” I asked him.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” He said as he got to work on Alex’s face.

  “Oh my God that’s a brilliant plan, lemme get a pen,” Jack rushed off in search of another pen. So far, Zack had managed to draw some mini flowers on his face. “Pfft, that’s amateur-style,” Jack commented. “I’m gonna show you lot how it’s really done. Soph, you take pics, ‘kay?”

  “Sure,” I nodded, and it took all my willpower in the world not to burst out laughing at how serene Alex’s face looked, and then there were a bunch of utterly random pics dotted all over it. Every time Jack or Zack added a new doodle, I took a picture of it, and actually started to admire their handiwork. However, Alex began to stir, and both of them got out of his firing range as fast as they possibly could.

  “Mhhmmff,” he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes open, and noticed all us lot standing there, each with a huge grin on our face. “Wait... what are all you guys staring at?” Carefully, so as not to disturb Jodie who was still sleeping, Alex got up off the couch and walked into the bathroom. “JACK YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU!” His yelling echoed throughout the apartment, causing Jodie to wake up, and not in the most pleasant of moods.

  “Do you all have to be so loud?!”

  “That’s what she said!” Emma shouted from the sanctuary of her bedroom. Guess I was wrong when I said the main portion of crazy had gone.

  “Shut up Em...” Alex walked out of the bathroom; it took one glance of his face to set Jodie off.

  “Yeah,” he huffed, “that fucking idiot known as Jack decided it would be funny to draw on me while I was asleep.”

  “Hey,” Zack whined, “give me _some_ credit, it was my idea after all! And I drew the flowers!” For the first time, I got to properly see what was actually on his face; Zack had drawn flowers and bows and a whole host of other girly things, but Jack had gone full out and drawn a very, very small penis with an arrow pointing to it saying ‘Actual size’.

  “This is on my _face_! How the _hell_ am I going to get it off? I’ve got work tomorrow!”

  “Try washing, you idiot!” Jack yelled at him. “It’s non-permanent marker!”

  “...Oh.” Obviously Alex wasn’t one of the smartest of the bunch. He turned around and headed back into the bathroom, followed by an awful lot of cursing.

  “You lot can be so cruel sometimes,” Jodie commented.

  “Eh,” Zack shrugged, “makes things more interesting.”

  We all watched some more television, with Alex scowling the entire time, traces of the artwork still on his face. Then feeding time again, well, for Jodie anyway.

  “Hey,” Jack asked, “where are my noodles?”

  Jodie stared at him, unbelieving that he was actually asking her this. “I have fed you pancakes and cookies. I am _not_ feeding you anymore! You’ve almost cleaned us out as it is!” At once, all of us started whining, begging for more food. “...You know you guys would all die if you were stranded on a desert island, right?” She sighed as she stood up, placing her quarter-eaten bowl of noodles on the table (which I instantly stole, much to the annoyance of Jack).

  “Nuh uh,” Alex hollered to her, “cus we’d kidnap you and take you with us.” Clanging came from the kitchen, followed by a loud _bang_. “Jodie, you okay?”

  I stood up, taking the bowl of noodles with me – and saw her holding tightly onto her finger. “Oh my God, what the hell did you do?” She showed me her finger, and it was not a pretty sight – there was a massive cut, running along the entire middle finger on her right hand.

  “Sliced it on a pan or something.” The blood was oozing steadily from the long gash as a vibrant red, running down her finger and beginning to reach her wrist.

  “Do you need to go to hospital or something?” Her eyes widened, pleading with me.

  “No, it’s fine, I’ll just stick a plaster on it or something.”

  “I don’t think there’s a plaster big enough to cover it.” I was still staring, disbelieving that Jodie was actually suggesting a plaster for a gash that size.

  “...Fine,” she sheepishly admitted, “there’s some gauze in my room.” What the hell? What sort of sane person keeps bandages in their room? Then again, this _is_ Jodie we’re talking about...

  “Why the hell do you have gauze in your room?”

  “Hello? This is Miss Paranoid you’re talking to!”

  “Okay, okay,” I said whilst heading to her room. “Run it under a cold tap or something and clean it up.” It didn’t take that long to find the gauze, being in a little kit labelled ‘First Aid’ (I really was going to have to talk to her about this; it’s not a normal thing, even for her), and I headed back out to Jodie, who was wincing as the cold water hit her freshly cut skin. Wrapping her finger up was difficult, having to redo it after doing it too tightly the first time, but once I had done, admiring my work, we went back into the living room, where it turns out they’re a lot sharper than they first appear.

  “What’s with the bandage?” Zack asked, never taking his eyes off the screen.

  “Oh, I just cut it on a pan,” she replied as she held her finger up, which was now beginning to turn red as all the blood pooled out onto the bandage.

  “Y’know, you could have just said if you didn’t want to cook for us.” The look Jodie gave Jack could have killed in an instant. “Anyone up for take-out?” He suggested, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Fine,” she replied after some thought. “But you’re paying.”

  “What?!”

  “Well,” she grinned at him evilly, “it’s only fair that I get some compensation for you and your slave labour.”


	6. Chapter 6

**_ Monday _ **

  “Wake up wake up WAKE UP!!!” Straight away I was woken up by the horrendous noise. The wailing was deafening, echoing throughout my ears long after it had stopped; I reached up for Emma’s neck. “No,” she huffed as she pushed my hands away, “Jodie’s finger’s bleeding!”

  She had woken me up for _that_?! I was certainly not a happy bunny, though most of it was because it was a Monday morning. “That was from _yesterday_ , you _twat_! Now get out before I eat you.”

  Emma still stood her ground defiantly. “But doesn’t she need to go to hospital or something? It looks pretty bad.”

  I sat up in bed; obviously I wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep. “She doesn’t want to, so I won’t make her unless it doesn’t stop bleeding.”

  “Okay then.” She plopped herself down on the end of the bed. “Wait... what are we gonna do for food?”

  “Find it yourself you lazy douche,” I kicked her, but she made no attempt at moving. “Or maybe, you could even make something yourself!”

  “Yeah... no way is _that_ happening.” Emma got up and went to leave, but turned back to me to say one last thing. “Oh, don’t you have the You Me At Six shoot today?” I had completely forgotten about that; no more shit at work today, I was finally doing my first photo shoot, and with You Me At freaking Six! “Urr... Soph, you okay? You’ve kinda stopped breathing...” Without any warning, I let out one of the shrillest squeals known to man, making Emma stagger back in surprise.

  “Dude,” Jodie shouted from her bedroom, “I should not have to listen to screaming this early in the morning. And if Emma says ‘that’s what she said’ _one more time_ , I am going to permanently erase this weekend from her mind!”

  Emma scowled, heading towards Jodie’s room. “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t say! Just be glad you’re injured.”

  “Oh yes,” Jodie’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “I’m _so_ incredibly happy that I’ve sliced my finger open!” Once those two had finished arguing, I got up, hardly being able to control my nerves. Now, if I thought I was nervous on my first day, then it was _nothing_ compared to this; it took everything I had, and more, to stop myself from having another outburst. Getting ready was hard – I must have taken a good five minutes to decide whether or not to wear my ‘I  <3 YMAS’ top (in the end I decided not to, thinking that they might think I was some sort of obsessed fan...), and then it took me even longer to make my hair and make-up look at least half-decent.

  “Woo woo,” Emma jeered at me, “somebody looks goooooood!” Picking up a cushion, I threw it at her, except she ducked just in time, leaving in to hit Jodie straight in the face.

  “Oh shit, sorry Jodie, I didn’t mean to... Whoa, you _really_ don’t look well.” Her face was unusually pale, even for her, and it looked like she was about to pass out.

  “No, I’m fine, I just need... if I can... I’ll get a glass of water,” Jodie mumbled, hardly making any sense whatsoever.

  “Right, lemme see the bandage.” Not able to really comprehend anything, she did as she was told straight away. When I looked at it, the gauze was almost completely soaked in blood; Emma gasped when she saw it. “This needs to be changed. How long has it been like that?”

  Jodie shrugged, and I thought she was about to fall over because of the movement. “When I went to bed, I think? I can’t remember, I was too tired...” Removing the bandage, it was almost like a sticky, oozy mess you’d expect to come from an alien. And then the blood started to flow again.

  “Okay, you’re definitely going to hospital now.”

  “I don’t need to, I’m...” She started swaying quite drastically, so me and Emma grabbed her and pushed her down onto the sofa.

  “You are whether you like it or not.” Getting ready to take her to the hospital, I stopped in my tracks; I couldn’t miss work today! “Um, Emma, can you take her?”

  “Sure thing Soph-a-doodle,” Emma sprung up, trying to take Jodie with her. “Come on Jodie, let’s get your finger all sewn up.” I saw Jodie turn green at the thought of that – I didn’t blame her.

  “Okay, tell me how it goes.”

  “Will do,” Emma shouted to me as she was just in the doorway. “Oh, and tell Matt I say hi!” The door shut, leaving me on my own – and as nervous as hell.

 

  I think I must have ended up at work about half an hour earlier than I needed to be, not really having anything else that I needed to do. In the end, I was waiting in the studio, fiddling around with the camera, trying every lens and setting on it that was possible (luckily, Chelsea was nowhere to be seen that morning). Just as I was getting into my element, I heard some movement outside the studio, accompanied by, what else, the sound of incredibly fake laughter. I rolled my eyes at this, just as You Me At Six decided to walk through those doors.

  “Sophie,” Chelsea said, putting on the fakest, sickliest voice possible, “this is You Me At Six, and we’re running a four-page spread with them, so I need you to get quite a few different pics on them.” She turned back to Josh, probably to overly flirt with him, but before she had chance to, Seth popped his head through the door.

  “Um, Chelsea? Can I see you for a minute in my office?” I couldn’t help but a stifle a laugh, knowing what was really gonna happen behind that door. She left pretty quickly, and I was left alone. In the studio. With You Me At Six.

  “Hey, I’m Sophie, the band photographer here...” But before I could say any more, Josh interrupted me.

  “Wait... I know you from somewhere! Weren’t you that photographer for that really small band magazine back in England for a couple of months or something?” The only thing I could do at that moment was scream in my head, and it was pretty hard to keep it from spilling out of my mouth as well. Ohmigod ohmigod OHMIGOD JOSH FRANCESCHI REMEMBERS ME!!! However, I remained calm. Or at least I hope I did.

  “Yeah, that was fun while it lasted. But, you know, this is a new adventure now, so I’m just gonna let it take me where it wants to,” I said with a big cheesy grin plastered all over my face.

  “Glad to hear it. I always knew you’d make it one day.” He grabbed me into a big bear hug, and I wasn’t sure whether to squeal in excitement, or to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming any of this.

  “Thanks,” I managed to exhale somehow. “Now, what do you say we take these pics?”

 

  The photo shoot was _definitely_ a lot of fun; Josh, Max, Matt, Dan, and Chris were just so _easy_ to be around, like the conversation needed no effort at all to carry on. Oh, and I got some kick-ass shots too. As we were wrapping up the session, my phone went off.

  _Haii Soph, Jodie got seven stitches in her finger and is now trying to kill me cus she needed an injection. At coffee shop if you wanna see us. Laavvv chu, Emii xxx OH, don’t forget to tell Matt I said hi!_

  “Who’s that?” A voice from behind me made me jump. I spun around and saw it was Max; instantly my heart began to race faster.

  “Oh,” I replied, feeling a little breathless, “it’s my friend Emma. I asked her to text me when she was done at the hospital cus my other friend Jodie kinda sliced her finger open yesterday and... yeah.” When I replayed what I had just said in my head, I was worried that I sounded like a crazy person, almost like Emma (except she was worse, always worse).

  “Well I hope she’s okay.” The small smile on Max’s face made my heart skip a beat, sending a shiver down my spine.

  “Mhmm. So do you wanna have a look through the shots then?” Everyone instantly gathered round, though the question was really only aimed at Max. Scrolling through, there were laughs at some of the faces which were being pulled, and even bigger laughs at some of the poses they were attempting to do. In the end, we managed to narrow it down to about nine out of thirty-eight (which is a harder task than it first seems), and all too soon we were saying our goodbyes.

  “Wait, hand me your phone Soph.” I complied with Josh’s request, and watched him fiddle about for about sixteen seconds, before handing it back to me. “There, now you can keep in touch with me.” Did he... did he just give me his _phone number_?

  “Wow, thanks!” This time, I went and hugged him, apparently catching him slightly off-guard. “Don’t worry, I won’t be losing this anytime soon.” He laughed, probably at my level of insanity, and left with everyone else. Which left me a big open space to squeal and clap and dance around in like the insane person that I was.

 

  After I had gone through the photos for what must have been the millionth time, I noticed the time, and headed down to the coffee shop. It wasn’t that hard to notice those two; apart from sitting in the same place as we always did, it looked like Emma was being attacked by Jodie.

  “Get off me!” I heard her squeak as I headed over to them. “Just because I’m trying to look after your finger...”

  “Give me the cup then, I’m not a freaking invalid!” A small scuffle ensued, but it was Emma who was victorious at retaining the cup.

  “What is the matter with you two now?” I asked as I joined them, grabbing a cup off a table and drinking it, mainly for its own safety.

  Jodie looked like she was about to kill someone. “She won’t let me hold my own fucking cup of tea cus she thinks it’s not good for my finger. But what she doesn’t seem to _realise_ is that I can hold it with my other hand!” She lunged at Emma for a second time.

  “Dude, you’re just gonna do even more injury to your finger if you keep trying to attack me like that...” I knew I had to diffuse the situation somehow, so quickly I got up and got a cookie, practically throwing it at Jodie.

  “There. Now will you stop attacking my Emma?” I sighed as I sat back down into my seat. Cautiously, Jodie looked from me to the cookie, and back again, suspicious about whether to accept this bribe or not. Luckily for all of us, she snatched it up and started eating it.

  “Thank you,” I heard her mutter. “Now can I have my tea back _please_?” Obviously that was the only way I was going to get any lasting peace.

  “Emma, give Jodie the tea back.”

  “But but but but...”

  “No buts.” Emma silently giggled at this; yep, she really does have the maturity level of a ten year old boy sometimes. “Emma.” Realising this wasn’t the time for fun and games, she slid the cup across the table to Jodie, who graciously accepted. “Right, so are we all done now?” Both looked guiltily down at the table – finally they had both shut up. “Good. Now I can tell you that I have Josh Franceschi’s number.” Only Emma looked up from the table, her mouth wide open in surprise.

  “You... Sophie Robyn Humphries... have Josh Franceschi’s... number?” She could barely speak, like she had just been hit in the gut. I nodded, knowing that I had possibly one of the most priceless pieces of information known to man. “Dude... you are the GREATEST person EVER!!!” Nearly knocking over her coffee, she sprung up and gave me a death grip hug. “Hey, Jodie, be excited goddamnit!”

  “I don’t like You Me At Six, therefore I am excused from any excitement.”

  “No, you’re just a killjoy,” Emma muttered into her coffee as she sat back down. I was never gonna get any peace between these two, was I?

  “Hey, where’s Alex today?”

  Jodie shrugged. “Never came in, so I’m guessing he’s still trying to get the remains of your masterpiece off of his face.”

  “I had _nothing_ to do with those drawings!” I defended myself, but no, Emma just _had_ to sell me out, didn’t she?

  “You were taking photos of the whole thing, so don’t say you weren’t involved.” How the hell did she hear that? Normally when she’s writing, she’s got her earphones in.

  “...Thanks for that Emma, really appreciate it.”

  “No problem Soph.” Draining the contents of her cup, Emma stood up. “Right, come on Jodie, let’s get you back home so I can get to work.”

  I shot Jodie a puzzled look. “You’re not going to work?”

  “Not allowed to. It’s gonna be like a week until I can actually do anything again.” She turned back to Emma. “No, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

  “Oh yeah? How do you think you’ll be able to turn the key in the lock with that hand? And don’t say you’ll use your other hand, cus I know you can’t, okay?” Wow, Emma really had Jodie beaten!

  Jodie paused for a moment. “I just wanna stay for a little longer...”

  This was obviously starting to get on Emma’s nerves. “ _Fine_ then! Be fucking ungrateful why don’t you?!” Angry, she stormed out, leaving Jodie looking like she was about to cry.

  “I just, I just...” I went to hug her, but she just pushed me away. “No, I’m gonna go home now.” Standing up, she moved as slowly as she possibly could, almost like she was waiting for something. Or someone.

 

  The rest of work almost flew by, spent editing this morning’s photos. Arriving home, I opened the door, and heard yet _more_ arguing.

  “Why can’t I? It’ll only take a few minutes, promise!”

  “No,” Jodie yelled back, “because I know what you’re like, and somehow the blame will end up on me.”

  “Come on, I won’t say you were involved or anything!”

  She huffed. “Ask Sophie when she gets home.” As soon as she saw my face, she was out of there. “Go corrupt her instead!”

  “What are you going to corrupt me with?” I asked Jack.

  “We’re hacking Gaskarth’s Facebook and changing his profile pic to the one with the crap all over his face, and now you’re gonna help me so that he doesn’t know it was me. So we’ve gotta use your computer.”

  “Sure,” I nodded, “but I just need to make some room.”

  “I’ll come help you,” he followed me into my room, obviously not getting the hint. “Whoa... you really do have a lot of pictures on your walls.”

  “I save every band pic that I take,” I explained. “Makes me feel like I’ve actually accomplished something with my life.” We sat around in silence, waiting for the computer to load up. Once it was ready, Jack took his place, fingers flying over the keyboard as he logged onto Alex’s account.

  “He’s never going to live this down,” he said as he uploaded the picture.

  “Wait!” I stopped him; confusion swept over his adorable face. “We need to crop Jodie out first.”

  “Why?”

  “Well she doesn’t know about the pics yet.”

  “And?” Jack stared blankly at me; obviously he didn’t understand girls all that well either.

  I began my explanation. “Well, she’d see the picture of her sleeping on Alex’s shoulder, and then she’d know that Alex knew about it cus when she woke up he wasn’t there. Then the whole process of ‘why didn’t he say anything about it’ would start, making her think that he obviously wasn’t bothered by it if he hasn’t mentioned it to her, and then she’d start thinking that Alex didn’t feel the same way as her, leading to her becoming very, _very_ moody. So that’s why you need to crop her out.”

  Jack didn’t say anything, just continuing to stare at me, bewildered. “...Wow, you girls are really high maintenance, aren’t you?”

  I shrugged. “Until you guys actually get the balls to ask us out, then yeah.” I had definitely won that battle of the sexes, but there was still a war to fight before we could claim total victory.

  Following my instructions, he cropped her out and uploaded it again, with the caption ‘Everything that is on my face is 100% true’; I couldn’t stop laughing at what Alex’s reaction was going to be when he saw this! “So,” Jack turned round to face me, “now that we’re done, what do you wanna do?” A million things started to run through my head, but not one of them involved a single thing that _we_ could do, opposed to what I wanted to do to him.

  “Dunno. What do you wanna do?” He lounged back on my bed; it seemed like he thought he owned my bedroom (oh I wish he did...)!

  Running his hands through his hair, Jack sighed lightly. “I dunno either, but this definitely feels nice. Think I might just...” He started to pretend to snore, so I went and belly-flopped onto him. “Oof, okay Soph, I get the pic, now get up!” When I made no attempt to move, he reached for my stomach and tickled me, causing me to stop breathing.

  “No... that’s not... that’s not...” I couldn’t get my words out, and I just lay there laughing like a maniac, Jack joining in too. And then the door opened.

  Emma stood there for a moment, surveying the sight before her, before commenting on the situation in a way that could have only come from her. “Okay kiddies, make sure you keep it clean. Some of us still have our youthful innocence, y’know.” That just set me off even more.

  “You... innocence... hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!” Tears were streaming down my eyes, breathing becoming even more difficult than before, so much so that I didn’t actually notice that Emma had already left my room. “Wait... wait... stop, I need... I need oxygen.” Slowly but surely, I managed to calm myself down, and I sat up next to Jack. “You know you’re lethal for me, right?”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said as he placed an arm round my shoulders. I nuzzled my head closer into his body, knowing I would be killing myself inside when it was time to let go. “Ooh, I smell cookies!” I could too...

  “Jodie, what the hell do you think you’re doing baking cookies?” I stormed out of my room, to see her standing with a baking tray in her good hand.

  “I’d promised Piggy there cookies, remember?” Jodie set the tray down on the counter, sweeping away something I couldn’t quite see.

  “Hey,” Jack butted in, “I would have let you off, what with your finger and all.”

  “No, I don’t have anything else to do for a week, so I might as well get this over and done with before you lot start with the puppy eyes again.” Jodie slid a box towards Jack. “So take your cookies.” His face lit up, just like a child’s on Christmas, and I was certain that his face was going to split in half when he opened it up.

  Jack could barely speak. “There are... there are twenty-four pieces of heaven, all in this box, this _one_ box.” Looking back and forth, he decided to go for it, and so grabbed Jodie’s face in his hands, planting a quick kiss on her lips. Needless to say, both Jodie and I were taken aback by this.

  “So that’s all I need to do,” Jodie said, still half in a daze. “I just need to bake cookies to get a guy to kiss me?”

  “Pretty much,” he replied as he stuffed half a cookie into his mouth. “Damn, I should probably go, or else the rest of them’ll come here and try to steal my cookies. I’ll see you two later.” Jack headed out the door, taking most of the aroma with him.

  “Soph,” Emma called out to me, “you played nice with Jack now, didn’t...” She stopped when she saw Jodie with me. “Oh, hi.”

  The tension in the air was incredibly thick. “Look,” Jodie finally broke, “I wasn’t trying to be ungrateful earlier today, it was just... it was just that I don’t like it when people are trying to look after me, but it doesn’t mean that I was trying to do it on purpose or anything. I’m sorry.” Emma kept her stony complex. “...I made some cookies for you.” She held out a plate, piled as high as possible with golden goodness. Emma’s face softened, and surprisingly instead of reaching straight for the cookies, she wrapped her arms around Jodie.

  “I’m sorry too,” she faintly muttered, almost choking up from it all. “I really couldn’t ask for better friends than you two, I hope you both know that.”

  “Don’t worry, we do.” And I joined in with the now group hug, knowing that nothing could come between us, not even if they tried.

 

  After most of the cookies had been eaten (and Emma started to complain about feeling sick, but that’s her fault for being so greedy), I went into my room, chuckling at the mess me and Jack had made earlier on. In the middle of tidying up, I found the camera from Saturday night, so I decided to have a look through the photos, and while I was, my conversation with Jack started to replay in my head.

_“Now each of us a couple thousand dollars poorer, we get our break just in time.”_

  I’m not sure how, but suddenly an idea sprang into my head, something brilliant that could launch them into stardom and beyond – but I couldn’t do it alone.

  Knowing that it was nearly midnight, and that I was most likely going to get my head bitten off for disturbing her, I went into her bedroom, where luckily for me, Jodie was sitting in darkness, her face only illuminated by her laptop screen. “Hey Soph,” she greeted me, never taking her eyes off the screen.

  I took a deep breath, realising that this could either be the most amazing plan ever, or something that I would never be able to live down. “I need you to do a favour for me.”


	7. Chapter 7

**_ Tuesday _ **

  Yet again, I woke up to the sound of yelling in the apartment; I was definitely going to have to have a word with those two about boundaries.

  “Yes, I know... Look, is that the best you can do?” Silence for a moment. “Fine then, it’ll have to do. Thanks.” The receiver was slammed back onto the hook, and Jodie definitely wasn’t looking all that pleased.

  “What was all that about?” I asked, trying to wipe the sleep out of my eyes.

  “Just booked my plane ticket.”

  “What? But you only just got here!” She shook her head, trying to ignore my attempts to get her to stay for a bit longer.

  “I’m going next Monday, so there’s still a week of me.” Still, I felt upset inside, hating it whenever Jodie had to leave. “Don’t be sad Soph, I’m only gonna be gone for two weeks.”

  “But that’s still two weeks too long! You can’t go!” I grabbed her arm, holding onto it as tightly as I possibly could.

  “I promise I’ll talk to you every day, you big twat.” Jodie wrapped her arms around me, trying, but failing, to squeeze the life out of me. “Now I’m just popping out to get coffee and tea.”

  “That certainly explains the box of cookies.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Shush you, he wanted the cookies.”

  “Okay then.” And just because I couldn’t resist... “Make sure to kiss him back!” She sarcastically laughed before giving me the finger, though I couldn’t take it seriously since it was her bandaged finger. Once Jodie was gone, I slumped onto the couch, not really caring that I was still in my pyjamas.

  “Hey,” Emma came out, dressed and ready to face the day, “what was all that about?”

  “Jodie’s flying back to England for two weeks on Monday.” I screwed up my face, hating having to say that. Why couldn’t she just stay? It’s not like there was anything worth going back to England for anymore.

  “Aww, seriously? That sucks dude!” She slumped down next to me, a similar expression on her face. “I was gonna try and get her and Alex together.”

  I gave her a weird stare. “What, and you can’t do that in a week?”

  “Hmm...” She gave the matter some thought for a moment. “Well, I guess I could... but it wouldn’t be as good as my original plan, and that was really good! C’mon, just lemme have the moment of glory here.”

  “Dude, do whatever you want, I’m not that bothered by what you do in your own time.” Jumping up to avoid Emma hitting me, I got dressed, and was ready just in time to see Jodie come back through the door. “So did he kiss you then?” As soon as I said this, Emma’s head perked up, desperate not to be the last one to find out about any gossip.

  “You know he didn’t,” she sighed as she handed me and Emma our cups, before sitting down and drinking her own.

  “Right,” Emma placed her coffee on the table, “let’s just get one thing straight here. Do you, or do you not, like Alex as more than a friend?”

  Jodie’s eyes darted backwards and forwards between me and Emma. “Umm... what?!”

  “Just answer the damn question Jodie,” I told her. “The sooner you do, the sooner she’ll stop bugging you about it.”

  “...Fine, I do, okay? Now can we please drop it?” Pulling her legs up onto the couch, she continued to drink her tea.

  At the same time, me and Emma responded. “Awwwwww!” Clearly, she wasn’t very impressed with this, and tried to throw a cushion at us. Luckily, Jodie has terrible aim, especially with her left arm, and the cushion simply skimmed past our feet.

  “Wow, wish I was skilled like you,” I taunted her. I know that I shouldn’t have done... but I just couldn’t resist it!

  “...You’re both evil. You know that, right?” I couldn’t help but grin at that comment – finally, my life’s mission was complete! Well... nearly. Still had to get Max to realise that I was the only girl for him, _then_ my life’s mission was complete.

  “Don’t be so grumpy Jodie,” Emma said as she sat down next to her, “this way we can help you two get together!” As soon as those words were out of her mouth, Jodie jumped off the couch and ran towards the door. “Hey, where you going?”

  “Away from your insanity!”

  “But we wanna help you!”

  “Last time you tried to ‘help’ me, I spent five hours locked in some little dingy room, so forgive me for not believing you!” With that, she slammed the door behind her, leaving me to raise my eyebrows at Emma.

  “God, what an overreaction,” I sighed as I flopped onto the couch.

  “I know. Hey,” Emma turned to face me, “I’ve got a plan, and this one is _so_ brilliant, she’ll never suspect a single thing, promise. What we’re going to do,” she leant in closer to me, though I don’t know why she did that – it wasn’t like anyone else was going to overhear the plan, “we’re going to throw her a going away party; get some booze and cheese on toast, and we’re sorted.” Of course, that was her answer for most things (well, so was cheese on toast, but we don’t need to go into that...).

  “Wait wait wait,” I paused her. “How the hell is that gonna help us get them together?”

  “Ah,” she winked at me, “that’s the secret bit – I can’t tell you yet cus it needs to be as natural as possible.”

  In theory, it all sounded good, but there were one or two flaws with the plan, and quite big ones too. “So how are we gonna get all this organised without Jodie knowing? I mean, she’s kinda gonna be here the whole time...”

  “Trust me,” she placed a hand on my shoulder, “she will be oblivious the entire time.” Just as I was about to argue my case, I realised that she had a pretty good point.

 

  Work today was nowhere near as good as yesterday; of course it was never going to be, especially since I now had Chelsea constantly breathing down my neck.

  “You need to change the lighting on that one,” she commented for about the twentieth time today. “I don’t like it at all. Oh, and change the contrast on this one, it looks like it’s all blending together into one colour.” When was this woman _ever_ going to get off my back? I had a plan, I knew what I was doing!

  “Sure thing,” I spat through gritted teeth, images of her decapitated body burning at the stake running through my mind. When she finally decided to do us all a favour and leave, I stopped looking at lighting and whatever, and started to look at the actual people who were on the photos. I was kicking myself for being so stupid; I had Max freaking Helyer right here _in this studio_ , and I did absolutely nothing about it. So what if I had Josh’s number, it wasn’t like I could call him up and ask for Max’s number – no, that would definitely be classed as stalking. But at this point, I really didn’t care. All I wanted was a chance to be with Max, alone, for more than five minutes. And I would be willing to kill for that chance.

 

  I walked back from work, completely and utterly in a foul mood after all of today’s events; it really felt like nothing was going my way. All I needed was to be alone for a bit – and I had the perfect place for it. Even though it may have been dark the first time, I still managed to find my way to where Jack took me on Saturday, and it still looked as awe-inspiring as the first time. At last I had found the peace and quiet I had been so desperately searching for here.

  Once I felt like I was ready to join the rest of civilisation again, I turned around – and instantly I stopped breathing. Only a couple of metres away from me was Max. And he was heading straight for me.

  “Hey, Sophie, right?” I nodded, not believing that what I was witnessing was actually happening to me. “How are the shots looking?”

  “Yeah, they’re looking great so far!” Why did I have to act so overly-enthusiastic? Control yourself woman!

  “Good, glad to hear that,” he said with a smile that made my legs feel weak. “So, do you live round here, or...”

  “No, not here anyway. I’m maybe like a mile or so away? At least it’s walking distance from here.” Starting to walk away, Max quickly followed me.

  “Well I’ll walk with you then, see what the city of New York is really like.”

  I snorted. “Well I can’t really tell you much, I’ve only been here for less than a week.”

  “Oh yeah, Josh said something about you in England.” Um, hello, does the accent not give it away?

  “Yeah, I came here cus of the job since I thought I’d be able to make a name for myself out of it. Well, that’s what I’m hoping for anyway.” I shrugged, calming myself down, although it was happening too slowly.

  “If the photos from yesterday are anything to go by, then I’m certain you’ll make it, and big time. Hey, maybe even _we’ll_ make it over here!” I laughed.

  “You better do, or else I’m going to hunt down every person who slags you lot off.”

  Max grinned coyly at me. “So you’re a fan, huh?” I could feel myself going red; damn me and not thinking before speaking.

  “Maybe...” He laughed at that.

  “Well, it’s good to know we’ve got fans in high places. We’ll certainly be asking you for favours.” Winking at me, the butterflies in my stomach went wild, shooting off in all different directions.

  “Hey, if you ever want a crazy fan girl, then I’m the person for the job,” I managed to joke along (okay, half-joke), hoping that Max wouldn’t actually take me seriously on it. Or maybe I was, and then the rumours could start up...

  “Sounds like you’ve got a plan there Sophie. Something you’re not telling me?” Luckily, he laughed as he said this, meaning he couldn’t actually read what was going through my mind at that second.

  Trying to act cool, I laughed along. “Nah, I just figure that’s the quickest way to get publicity.”

  “I know, we’ve been there before.”

  I stopped, confusing Max. “Well, this is where I live. See you later?”

  “Yeah, sure, bye,” he walked off, but not before leaving me with one last heartbreaking smile.

  Walking into the apartment, I was greeted by a pure shriek of joy. “OHMIGOD you did _not_ just have a conversation with Max Helyer!” All I could do was stand there and smile, having just spent five minutes talking to the most perfect man ever.

 

  Drifting off after a day filled with ups and downs (and the ups _certainly_ made up for the downs), Jodie came and prodded my arm.

  “Here, I’ve done,” she said as she handed me a piece of paper.

  “Yeah sure thanks,” I muttered back to her, still deep in the midst of drowsiness. Once she’d gone, it clicked it what she had actually handed to me. Finally, one of my many plans was starting to come together!


	8. Chapter 8

**_ Wednesday _ **

  Today was my day off; at long last I could do what I wanted! So I decided to do what any other sane person would do – stay in a coffee shop until they made me leave by force. What, I needed caffeine! Especially when dealing with Emma.

  I walked in, slouched down at our usual table, and was immediately greeted by Alex.

  “Hey Soph, I’ve got your coffee already.” He handed me the cup, and I accepted, getting my money out to pay him. “No, it’s okay, this one’s on me.” Immediately, I was suspicious, particularly since I thought he would have seen his Facebook by now…

  “Wow, what’s put you in such a good mood?” He almost looked hurt by my comment.

  “What, I’m not usually? Well, I guess I’ll just take the coffee back then…” I stopped him, whacking his hand away before he had chance to get anywhere near the cup. And then I worked out why he was happy.

  “…It’s the cookies, isn’t it?” I smiled at him, knowing I had figured it all out.

  Alex couldn’t help but to grin with his overflowing energy. “They’re just _sooo_ good! It’s like there’s a secret ingredient in them or something! I can’t help…”

  “Hey Alex,” Vanessa decided to ‘join in’ our conversation.

  “Hey,” he blandly replied.

  “So anyway,” she continued to speak, even though no-one was really listening, “I just wanted to tell you how much I _loved_ that song you wrote about me.” We were both puzzled; what song did he write for Vanessa?

  “Um, I don’t actually know what you mean,” he nervously laughed, scared at what was going through her head.

  “You know, that one that you said was about a girl who was at the coffee shop where you worked…” Uh oh.

  Alex stumbled, unsure of how he should break it to her. “Oh, um, well, the thing is, that isn’t actually about you…” In an instant, the gleam in her eyes disappeared, only to be replaced with a dark and maliciousness that was not going to be good. The smile on her face became more forced, as if she was a china doll, plotting its revenge on all.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she tried to fake her way out of the awkward situation, “it’s just, you know, I thought… well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll talk to you later.” As quickly as she could, Vanessa ran across to the bathroom. As soon as she was out of earshot, I confronted Alex.

  “So if the song’s not about her, who is it about then?” He awkwardly looked down at the table, unable to make even the briefest of eye contact with me. “…Thought so.”

  “Does she know it’s about her?” I shook my head, feeling incredibly sad that nothing seemed to be going right for those two.

  “She’s not the sort of person who can take hints that well.”

  “Oh.” My heart really went out to Alex there and then; he had done something so amazingly romantic, and Jodie hadn’t realised it was done just for her.

  “She did really like the song, you know,” I tried to console him. “She thinks you’re amazing, and you really do make her laugh in a way I’ve never heard before. Trust me,” I placed a hand on his shoulder, “she likes you.”

  The smallest smile appeared on his face, letting him know there was still hope. “Thanks Soph.”

  “No problem,” I smiled back at him. “Oh, and we’re also throwing Jodie a going-away party.”

  Straight away, Alex’s face changed to one of worry. “She’s leaving?”

  “No,” I explained, “she’s just going back to England for two weeks on Monday, so Emma thought we should throw her a party or something. But there’ll be a lot of alcohol, so tell the others as well.”

  “I will, and I can tell you now they’ll definitely be there.” I couldn’t help but giggle at that; typical boys. Alex gave me a brief hug, and headed back to the counter.

  Drinking my coffee, I gormed, not really paying attention to anything around me. Until I heard Alex’s voice again.

  “What the hell? You can’t do this to me! Who told you this bullshit?”

  “I’m not at liberty to divulge that information, but obviously we must take this comment of stealing _extremely_ seriously.”

  “I’ve never stolen a single thing! Then again, you’re probably not listening to me _yet again_!”

  “To be fair, it’s not just this remark I’m worried about. Many of your customers have been complaining of your service, so...”

  “So what?” His eyebrows creased together in confusion.

  “...So I’m going to have to let you go.”

  “ _What_?! You’re _firing_ me?”

  “Consider this your week’s notice.”

  “Well you know what?” Alex took off his apron and screwed it up into a ball. “You can’t _fire_ me because I _quit_!” He threw the apron onto the counter and stormed out; before I had chance to follow him outside, I saw Vanessa standing in the corner, smirking at the situation in front of her.

  “Do you find this funny or something?” I walked up to her and asked.

  “No,” she ‘innocently’ replied, “I just find it ironic how quickly karma can come back to some people.”

  This made me _really_ angry. “Oh, you think that just because he’s not interested in you? Trust me, that’s not bad karma, that’s having something called standards.”

  “And how would you know?” She threw her head back and laughed. “I bet you’d go with the first guy who was interested in you, which I’m guessing so far in your _sad_ life has been zero.” I thought Vanessa had used up all her insults, but she had one last one up her sleeve. “But whatever, if he’s stupid enough to not be interested in me, then he can go and have whatever pathetic ally idiotic excuse of a girl he thinks is actually any good for him; she’ll probably be fat too.” That was it – I punched her in the face, blood instantly pouring from her nose, before grabbing a handful of her hair and yanking her head back as far as it could.

  “A little slut like you,” I growled into her ear, but still loud enough for everyone else to hear, “should not even be allowed to _exist_ on the same planet as ‘that girl’, because she is worth infinity plus one of you. And anyway,” I spat the words like the trash they were, “I’m betting that she doesn’t have every STD known to man, seeing as she’s not a dirty little whore like you.” I threw her forward, causing her to nearly lose her balance. Almost immediately, Vanessa went for me, but someone pulled me back before she had chance to touch me.

  “Okay,” the same voice that had previously been talking to Alex, “you can get out of here and never come back – I’m not having my staff assaulted like that.” That evil smirk appeared on her face, and I just needed to wipe it from her face with my fist, but I was held in place, being moved slowly towards the door.

  “You can’t throw me out!” I yelled, my arms and legs flailing. “What about her? She makes up that shit about Alex and she still gets treated like a fucking princess?” Shoving everyone off me, I stormed towards the door. “You know what, I wouldn’t come back here if my life depended on it, which is just as well cus the coffee tastes like piss!” Okay, so that was a lie, but I needed to punish everyone in there cus, well, why shouldn’t I? If they weren’t going to listen to me, then it should be their loss for being stupid enough to take that stupid cow’s word over mine. Once I was outside, I searched for Alex, and spotting him in the distance, ran to catch up with him.

  “Wait!” I called to him. Several steps later he stopped, giving me chance to catch up to him. “What the fuck just happened back there?” I thought it would be best to play dumb right at this moment.

  He turned around to look at me, the rage adamant in his eyes. “Some little prick thought it would be funny to tell my boss that I’ve been stealing, so now I have no job thanks to them.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the prick was Vanessa. His face began to soften. “How the hell am I meant to keep my apartment, huh? The rent’s due today and I haven’t got any money to pay it with.”

  “Get your final paycheck?” I suggested; he stared at me like I was mad.

  “Are you _kidding_ me?! I wouldn’t go back to that hell-hole again if they _paid_ me to! Seriously,” he sat down on the pavement, “what am I going to do? I’ve got no money, and you can’t survive in this city without money.”

  Joining him on the pavement, I rubbed Alex’s back, trying to calm him down. “Don’t worry, you’ll find a way out of this, and we’ll all be here to help you if you need it.”

  “Thanks,” he said as he stood up. “Guess I should go and pack up all my stuff.”

  “Need any help?”

  He contemplated it for a moment. “Sure, if you’ve got nothing better to do.” Alex held his hand out and helped me up from the pavement. “Can you do me a favour?”

  “Sure, what?”

  He looked ashamed as he spoke. “Can you not mention this to anyone else? I don’t think I could deal with everyone trying to give me pity at the moment.”

  “Of course,” I said, as I followed him to pack up; he definitely was having a worse day than I had.

 

  When everything was packed up, I went back home, wishing to be able to relax for just a minute after this morning’s events. However, as soon as I walked through the door, I saw Jodie curled up on the sofa, slowly but surely making her way through a tub of, what else, cookie dough ice cream.

  “What’s up with you?” I asked as I sat down by her, wondering how long I could wait before stealing some of her ice cream.

  “Just thinking about going back.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I don’t know whether it was such a good idea.”

  “Then don’t, stay here!”

  “I can’t, I need to go back.”

  After the day I had had, I finally snapped. “Would you make up your mind? Either go or don’t go, but don’t keep complaining about whichever you...”

  “We didn’t break up because I was coming here, okay?! I came here _because_ he broke up with me, and I know that I’m probably going to end up seeing him when I go back, so forgive me for being a bit nervous, okay?” Jodie threw the tub on the floor and held her head in her hands, desperately trying to hold onto the one shred that was keeping her from losing it.

  I rushed over to hug her. “Jodie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you upset. Why didn’t you say any of this before?” She shrugged, rubbing her eyes furiously.

  “Well it’s not like anything else in my life has gone right so far, is it? If I told you, you would have thought I was a complete failure.”

  “We wouldn’t have thought that, not in a million years. And hey, it’s not like me or Emma have accomplished that much either.”

  She snorted. “You’re working at your dream job where people are going to start recognising you pretty damn soon and you’re also getting phone numbers too, and Emma’s doing what she’s always wanted to do. I, on the other hand, am working in a job which I have absolutely no interest in and which I’m not going to get anywhere with, and I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. Trust me, you two have done a lot more than me.”

  “So you don’t know what you want to do, you’re only twenty-one! Not many people know what they want to do throughout their _entire_ life. It’s just a process of waiting until something catches your eye; until then, do what the hell you want, go and live.”

  “Sit around and eat ice cream,” she mumbled; I picked the tub back up for her.

  “If that’s what you wanna do, then do it.” Weakly, Jodie smiled at me – and produced a second spoon from somewhere.

  “Come on, I know you want to.”

  I accepted, glad for the ice cream. “You know what they say, spooning leads to forking.” Handing me the tub, she got up and went into the kitchen, and came back with, guess what, a fork.

  “There, now go and fork yourself into oblivion.” Ah, what would I do without Jodie’s strange sense of humour?

  We sat there for a minute, engrossed in the ice cream, when a question that needed to be asked just popped into my head. “So what’s the story behind Alex and cookies then?”

  “What makes you think there is?” She questioned my motives, scooping out more ice cream.

  I shrugged. “Just cus he said something once about them never failing to make you smile.” Jodie paused, looking like she was re-imagining some lost memory.

  “It was my second day of being in New York, and I went in there to get a cookie, while I was wearing my Cookie Monster top. Alex was serving me, and then he told me that I couldn’t be the Cookie Monster. When I asked why, he said cus I was nowhere near big, or blue, enough to call myself that, so I said that I hoped he didn’t mind destroying thousands of kids dreams and that it would probably have worse consequences than if he told them about Santa. Then he asked for my name, and we’ve been friends ever since.” Once her story was done, Jodie went for one last spoonful of ice cream, only to realise I had finished it all while she was talking. “...Do you really have to steal my food?”

  “If your name’s not on it,” I said as I grabbed the tub and put it in the bin, “then we will steal it.”

 

  Just as I was about to fall to sleep, I heard a banging coming from opposite my room.

  “Emma!” I yelled as I stormed into her room. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” All I could see of her was her bum wiggling about.

  “I’m trying to find my iPod, it dropped down here somewhere.”

  “Well do you have to be so loud about it?”

  Her head resurfaced, obviously victorious in her quest. “I’ve found it!” Emma held it up, when a couple of pieces of paper slipped out of her grasp. “Huh, I wonder what those are.”

  “You mean they’re not your secret stash of porn?” I joked with her, but her mouth dropped wide open, her eyes hardly daring to believe what was right in front of her. “What’s wrong with you Emma, it’s like you’ve...” One glance at the pictures, and my mouth was just as wide as Emma’s. On every single one of the three photos was Zack. With absolutely nothing on. “Ohmigod dude you have a secret stash of porn?!”

  “I swear I’ve _never_ seen these before!” That didn’t mean that she took her eyes off of them though.

  “Well where the hell have they come from then?”

  “Don’t fucking ask me, how the hell should I know?!” Her eyes widened a great deal. “He probably... took them himself when he still lived here.” Which meant it could be anytime up to a week ago. “Sooo... can I pretty pretty please claim him as mine?”

  “What about Craig, huh?” This brought her back to reality.

  “He called me back today, and he wants to meet up again on Friday, hopefully with similar results to last weekend,” she winked cheekily at me.

  “You ever heard of this thing called ‘talking’? You might wanna try it with a guy sometime.” I had to duck from the flying pillow that came my way.

  “Now get out of my room and leave me to my pervertedness.” As fast as I could, I got out of there, otherwise I’d have to hear what she was thinking. And trust me, that’s never good for anyone.


	9. Chapter 9

**_ Saturday _ **

  _Knock knock knock_. This was the third time in a row, and still nobody answered it. _Knock knock knock._

  “I’m coming!” I yelled, annoyed that I was never being allowed to get up when I wanted to anymore. Opening the door, I was instantly ambushed. “Aaahh, get off me, all of you! What do you want?”

  “That live review, it’s brilliant! We’ve already had about a thousand views on our website in the last half hour!” Jack squished me even harder.

  “Can’t... breathe...” Luckily for my windpipe, they all let go. “Thank you. Now, I only took the pics. The person you really wanna be thanking is Jodie, cus she wrote the actual thing.”

  “Jodie!” Alex yelled, barrelling towards her bedroom.

  “Quick, keep your door locked!” Well, I felt it was only fair to warn her of the impending doom. Except she seemed to ignore my advice – eh, it was gonna be her funeral.

  Alex came walking back to us five seconds later. “...Yeah, she’s still asleep.” Sighing, I went into her room and took all of them with me. Entering, she looked blissfully unaware of what chaos was surrounding her cus, well, she was, what with being asleep and all.

  “Right, this should wake her up.” Leaning into her, I whispered into her ear. “Jodie, the Sparkle Fairy’s coming for you...”

  “Where where _where?!_ ” She shot up in bed, fear gripping her; for a millisecond she calmed down, before noticing the four guys standing in her room. “Ohmigod what are you doing here? Get out!” Trying to escape their gazes, Jodie pulled the covers over her head, but they all pulled it away from her.

  “We owe you _forever_!”

  “No you don’t, as long as you get the hell out right now!” Nobody even attempted to move from where they were.

  “You and Soph have just single-handedly given us our biggest fan base ever,” Alex said as he picked Jodie out of her bed, “so we’re allowed to, okay?”

  “PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW ALEXANDER WILLIAM GASKARTH OR YOU WILL REGRET IT, YOU HEAR ME?!?!” She tried to break free, but his grip on her was too strong.

  “Um, I’d put her down if I was you...” I suggested, trying to get onto Jodie’s good side. Reluctantly, he set her down on the floor – where she instantly shoved everyone out of her room. Including me. “Hey, I helped you!”

  “I don’t care, just get out, all of you!” Having the door shut in my face, I went to sulk in the kitchen, where I found some cookies. Not even two seconds later, Zack walked in, took half of the cookies, and walked back into the living room again. God it’s hard to keep anything a secret from those lot!

  Jodie briefly popped out to go into the bathroom, managing to sneak past everyone. Remembering what day it was, I went to the guys in the living room. “...I don’t suppose I could ask you lot for a favour, could I?”

  “Soph,” Jack replied, “after what you’ve done for us, you could probably ask us to dress up as hookers and we’d say yes.”

  “You already do that on Thursdays anyway,” Alex mumbled.

  “Perfect. Right, I need some of you or whatever to keep Jodie occupied this afternoon while we set up for the party.”

  Without a second’s thought, Jack answered. “I vote Alex.” Zack and Rian agreed with this. However, Alex’s puzzled face obviously didn’t understand why. “Hey, I’ve got to start on the alcohol as soon as possible. Plus she’s gonna be less suspicious if it’s you.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?” Before Jack got to reply, Jodie came out of the bathroom.

  “Are we allowed to look at you now,” Zack yelled over his shoulder, “or are you still wearing those green sushi pyjama bottoms?”

  “Ha bloody ha, you think you’re all _sooo_ funny, don’t you?” Jodie really wasn’t happy; I don’t blame her, it was way too early for a Saturday. “So what the hell did you want to tell me that was so fucking important you had to bombard me in my room?” She asked them all as she planted herself onto a free space on one of the couches.

  “That’s what she...”

  “SHUT UP EMMA!!!” Somehow we were all on the same wavelength now. Then again, it gets quite easy to predict when she’s going to have her dirty-minded head on – all the time.

  “Right,” Alex began to explain, “that live review that you wrote about our show from last week has given us a massive boost to our popularity.”

  “Wait,” Jodie turned to me, “that got used in Musique?”

  “Well what did you think it was for, fun?”

  “I can never tell with you. It _was_ late at night when you asked me to write it.”

  “That didn’t mean you had to do it right there and then...”

  “You two done yet?” We both shut up and let Jack speak. “Finally. Both of you have done something that we can seriously never repay you for, and we will all be eternally grateful for it, so thank you, you have no idea how much this means to us.”

  Neither of us knew what to say, feeling quite humbled by this exclamation. “...It’s okay, you don’t have to thank us for it. We wanted to do this for you. I mean, you kept Jodie company when she was here before us, and anybody who can manage to keep her under control deserves a medal.” I thought Jodie was going to protest against this, but she kept her mouth shut. Maybe I did know her too well after all.

  “Oh gawd,” Emma butted in, “this isn’t going to turn into some smushy mushy confession session, is it? Cus I haven’t had any caffeine yet.”

  “No Emma, and have you ever thought you might be developing a caffeine addiction?” She gave Jodie evils. “Okay, okay, I won’t say it again, as long as _you_ promise to stop trying to do Craig up the wall when you get in at half two in the morning.”

  “Never!” Emma yelled, before realising how much of a mistake that was. “Um... she’s lying?”

  “Whatever Emma, I think I know who I’d rather believe about this.” For this, I got a cushion to the head; remind me never to speak the truth again where Emma’s concerned.

 

  After lounging around for many hours, eating more food, we finally decided that we needed to get rid of Jodie to start setting up.

  “Hey,” I casually mentioned, “do you have everything you need for Monday?”

  “Think so. Why?”

  I decided to play on her love of reading. “Well, I was just wondering because since you don’t have any books over here, so you might be bored on the plane...” Her head popped up, eyes wide open.

  “Shit, I never thought of that.” She turned to me. “Think the shops will be shut?”

  “Jodie, it’s a Saturday – of course they won’t be shut at four in the afternoon.” She bowed her head in embarrassment.

  “Well I didn’t know that, did I?”

  “Clearly not,” I muttered. Grabbing a coat, Jodie got her keys out and unlocked the door, still finding it difficult with her bandaged finger. Luckily for her, Alex noticed this and turned the keys for her.

  “Thanks.” All Alex did was sheepishly smile back. “I guess I’ll see you lot in a couple of hours then.”

  “I’ll miss chuu.” I called after her.

  “I’ll miss you more.” Once she had left the apartment, we all started to shove Alex after her.

  “You heard her, she’ll be a couple of hours!” He whined, trying to resist our efforts.

  “But we need you to keep her away until we tell you we’re ready, so go!” Giving up the protest, he followed after Jodie.

  “Right,” I said as soon as the door shut, “let’s get started.”

 

  It took about four hours to get everything set up, seeing as no-one could blow up balloons, and Jack kept drinking all the alcohol. By about eight, we were finished – and now totally exhausted.

  “If she doesn’t like this,” Emma muttered, “I’m drinking myself into oblivion.”

  “And you weren’t going to do that anyway?” She turned back to whatever she was doing beforehand, but I pulled her away into a quiet corner where no-one else could hear us. “Right, so what was the super secret part of the plan that you couldn’t tell me?”

  Looking over her shoulder, she began to explain to me. “What I’m thinking is that we lock them both in her room until they admit they like each other.”

   “ _That’s_ your master plan?!” My voice was definitely louder than a whisper, though fortunately nobody else seemed to acknowledge this. “You know how well your plan worked last time you locked her in a room! She was freaking hysterical for days. Do you hear me, _days_!”

  Emma shook her head at me. “But it would be different this time cus this one would work.” Staring at me with that crazy grin of hers, I walked away, knowing that her plan would never work in a million years.

  Once everything was done, we all waited, half-anxious in case they’d decided to elope or something during the four hours that they’d been out for. Quarter-past, and still no sign of them.

  “Jack, are you _sure_ you sent him the text?”

  “For the last time yes! Do you not trust...” We heard a key turn in the lock, and instantly all hid behind the couch, hoping that our plan would not be all for nothing.

  “...Why the hell are you all sitting in the dark?” Jodie asked. “I mean, I know you’re all weird, but this is strange, even for you lot.”

  “SURPRISE!” We all jumped up and yelled, someone turning the light on at the same time. The look on her face said it all; she was shocked, definitely, but she had the biggest grin spread across her face.

  “What the...” She turned to Alex. “Did you know about this?”

  “I was voted to be the distraction.” Her smile faltered for a second, but me and Emma went to hug her.

  Emma began to get misty-eyed. “Dude, I’m _really_ going to miss you! How am I meant to survive without your cooking skills?” For that, she got a jab to the stomach.

  “You’ll be fine without me,” she joked. “Two weeks without cookies isn’t going to kill you!” Everyone stared at her, not believing that she actually just said that. “...Fine, you can have them now.” She dumped her bags onto the floor, and from the kitchen, she produced six huge boxes, all labelled with our names.

  “You... made all of these _yourself_? Oh my God.” Jack came closer, but Jodie jumped back.

  “Oh no, you stay away from me, especially after last time.”

  Jack look hurt. “Why, are you saying I’m a bad kisser?”

  She shrugged. “Eh, I’ve had better.” Yes, that’s right, Jodie just completely owned him.

  “Dude,” Rian said as he placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder, “that’s even _worse_ than getting denied! It’s like the ultimate insult.”

  “Yeah yeah, we all get the picture, okay?! Now,” he went and picked up a bottle, “let’s get drunk.”

 

  Three hours and about six different alcohols later, and Jodie was the first one to pass out, always having been a lightweight.

  “What the *hic* what the hell are we... are we meant to do with her?” Emma asked, though it was apparent she’d certainly had her fair share of booze too. “We can’t... we can’t... we can’t leave her there cus I... I wanna sit down.” Nobody else was really with it enough to acknowledge this, but I still attempted to pull her off the couch. Just as I banged her head on the floor, but luckily she didn’t wake up from her unconscious slumber.

  “Um, little help people?”

  “Ah,” Jack waved me away, “she’ll be fine there, don’t worry about it.” Everybody else continued to drink, oblivious to the sleeping form on the floor. Soon afterwards, however, she started talking, making no sense whatsoever.

  “Take the bunny to the supermarket Soph,” she kept repeating over and over again. “Soph! Soph! Soph! Soph! The bunny, Soph, what about the bunny?!”

  “Okay, I think someone’s drunk enough now. Alex, come help me here, she weighs a ton.” He came over and picked her up, with me overseeing the whole relocation process. “Just put her in her room and I’ll go get a bucket for her.” I returned and placed it by her head, while I watched Alex put the covers over her. “What are you doing that for?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “I thought she looked a bit cold.”

  “So what did you end up doing today then?” I wanted to know, seeing as Jodie isn’t one of the easiest people to keep entertained for four hours.

  “We went into the bookstore, that took about two hours.” Of course; she could get lost in her own fantasy world for hours on end. “Then we just chilled in the park for the rest of the time.”

  I could sense that there was something more he wasn’t telling me. “What happened in the park?”

  Reluctantly, Alex caved in. “...She found out I don’t have a job anymore.”

  “It’s taken you _three_ days to tell Jodie that you got _fired_?”

  “Quit,” he corrected me.

  “Sorry, quit.” Carefully, so as not to disturb Jodie, I sat on the edge of her bed. “Why didn’t you tell her sooner?”

  “Because I thought she’d think I was a failure, okay?!” He ran his hands through his hair, unsure of what he should do next. “She deserves someone who has a job and who knows what’s gonna happen in their life and someone who can look _after_ her.”

  “Were you even listening the other day, when I told you she likes you? There’s a reason for that, and it’s got absolutely _nothing_ to do with how successful you think you are.” Briefly, Jodie stirred, causing both me and Alex to hold our breaths, but she simply turned over and went back to sleep. “She likes you who for you are and what you stand for and all that other crap that she desperately wants from a guy, so don’t you be giving me another excuse for why you can’t do anything about it, cus if she was who you really wanted, you would have damn done something about it by now, instead of just sitting back and letting it pass you by.”

  Instead of yelling right back in my face, my speech seemed to have the opposite effect on Alex. “I just want it to be perfect for her – I don’t want her thinking that I did it just because I wanted to, I want her to think that I _needed_ to, and that all the shit I say to her is for real.” He slumped against the wall, looking like he didn’t have a single idea in the world what his next move should be.

  Even though it was obvious before now that Emma’s plan wasn’t going to work, I just didn’t have the heart to do that to Alex. “...Well there’s nothing you can do about it tonight, so I’m afraid you’re gonna have to wait just a little longer, okay?” Uncertainly he nodded, and we headed back out to everyone else, who seemed to had begun to sing Macarena very loudly (Jack) or passed out (everyone else). Tonight was definitely going to be a long night.


	10. Chapter 10

**_ Sunday _ **

  The morning after the night before, and I woke up, slumped across the counter in the kitchen, a shot glass still in my hand. Though my head was pounding, it was certainly nowhere near as bad as some of the hangovers I had previously had. Getting up as carefully as I could, I made my way to my bedroom to sleep off the rest of the alcohol – and found a Jack lying across my bed.

  “Move your fat ass, you lazy shit.” He simply half-heartedly swatted me away. “I _will_ sit on you again if you don’t shift it.”

  He grumbled, muttering something that sounded like swearing as he moved across. “There. I’m not moving from this bed, so you can either go on the floor or share.” Annoyed at him, I decided to share, not really in the mood to fight him for it.

  The next thing I remember, Jack was on top of me, making breathing incredibly difficult. “Ugh, get off! You’re too fat for me.” Still asleep, I did the only sensible thing – I slapped his across his face.

  “OWW! What the hell did you do that for?” Jack rubbed his face, a red pattern starting to emerge.

  “Um, because I like being able to breathe?”

  He looked down. “Whoops, sorry, didn’t mean to kill you like that.”

  “Oh, it’s okay,” I said as he moved off of me, “it was gonna be either you or the alcohol.”

  “You saying I have bad taste in alcohol?”

  I shrugged as best as I could. “It did the job, I guess. By the way, you can really sing Macarena.”

  Right then, he looked incredibly embarrassed. “Oh shit, I wasn’t... was I?” I nodded, unbelieving that this wasn’t the sort of thing he did on a regular basis. “That normally kicks in when nobody’s watching me.”

  “Sure it...”

  “OHMIGOD WHY ARE YOU TWO IN THE SAME BED?!?!” Emma came barrelling into my room, followed by Zack and Rian.

  “Clothes are on, nothing happened,” Zack commented. Nice to know I didn’t seem like the sort of person who was smart enough to put her clothes back on...

  “Anyway, do we really need the whole ‘group meeting’ thing right here and now? It’s kind of a bit... oh.” I checked the clock, to see that it was nearly one in the afternoon. What was the deal with alcohol and oversleeping?

  “So anyway, all sleeping arrangements aside,” she moved her face as close to mine as possible, “did the plan work out?”

  “What plan?” Jack looked around, confused, but I simply shook my head.

  “Seeing as you don’t remember, Jodie kinda passed out before we could try out your _stupid_ idea of a plan, and anyway...”

  “Yeah...?” Emma prompted me.

  “...It just doesn’t seem right to pull a cheap stunt like that. I think it’s gone past the stage for ‘he said, she said’ now.”

  Obviously, the guys were getting annoyed about not being in on our little secret. “Would somebody _please_ explain what the fuck you two are talking about?!” Jack whined.

  “My God,” a voice came from outside the door, “you really are an insecure piece of shit Jack.” Me and Emma kept our mouths tightly zipped as Alex decided to join us all. “It’s not always about you.”

  “It’s never about me,” he muttered, but only loud enough for me to be able to hear.

  “Okay people,” I tried to keep order, “if we’re all having a meeting, can we not do it in my room?”

  “Not like anyone else has,” Emma smirked as we all moved to the living room – damn her for being out of my reach, otherwise I would have slapped her for that.

  As I was trying to get off of my bed, I accidently fell off the edge. “Um, little help anyone?” Fortunately, Jack decided he would be kind enough to help me up, and offered me his hand. “Thanks,” I said as he pulled me up from the floor – and that’s when I made the fatal mistake of looking at his face. His barely-there stubble made his already irresistible face look even better than I thought was possible, and that smile he gave me... I could almost feel my knees wanting to buckle beneath me. But that wasn’t the end of it, oh no. Staring at his eyes, they felt so warm and inviting, almost as if they were daring me to come just that little bit closer...

  “No problem.” Jack’s voice snapped me out of my daydream, sadly bringing me back to reality; I smiled at him, but I knew it wasn’t genuine.

  Heading out into the living room, I felt some strange pit in the bottom of my stomach – what it was, I wasn’t sure, but I pushed it aside, knowing that the time to deal with it certainly wasn’t when I was dealing with a hangover at the same time. “Hey, where’s the food?” Zack started to complain; couldn’t they go more than two seconds without thinking about food?

  “Emma, show them where the food is. I’m gonna go wake Jodie up.”

  “Aww,” she moaned. “Do I have to?”

  “Fine, order something. Just shut those lot up for more than five minutes!” Tiring of Emma’s awkwardness, I headed off into Jodie’s room, where she was still firmly asleep. “Jodie,” I said as I gently shook her shoulder, “come on, we’re all getting food now.”

  It took a little while, but eventually she opened her eyes. “...I didn’t do anything stupid last night, did I?”

  “Not apart from being the first to pass out.” Groaning, she sat up, clutching her hand to her head.

  “Remind me never to drink like that again, please.” Even though she was reluctant to at first, she got ready, looking as fragile as anything. “Are you sure I didn’t do anything stupid last night?”

  “No Jodie,” I reassured her, “you weren’t conscious for long enough.” This time, she seemed to believe me, but it still felt like an eternity before she made her way out to join the others.

  “You okay?” Alex asked Jodie – when the sunlight hit her skin, it made her look worse, highlighting the dark circles around her bloodshot eyes, as well as her pale, pasty skin.

  “Yeah,” her hoarse voice cracked out a response. “Just need a lot of water and some way to stop myself from drinking so much last night.”

  Then Jack couldn’t help but to interrupt cus, well, it’s Jack. “When you say that, do you mean before or after you were making out with Alex for twenty minutes straight?” _What_? That never happened! Or at least I didn’t remember seeing it...

  “Did this seem to happen at the same time you were singing Macarena by any chance?” Alex asked as coolly as anything. What was he doing...?

  “Yeah!”

  Sighing, Alex explained to both Jack and the rest of us. “Jack, this is when you’re so drunk, you start to imagine things.”

  He paused to consider this for a moment. “...Well that explains the stuff I was seeing last night.” As Alex turned his back, Jack gave me a sneaky wink – so _that’s_ what he was playing at! I have to admit, that was a genius plan, even if it did fail. Quickly, I glanced at Emma, letting her know that from now on, all of my plans were coming from Jack; needless to say, she wasn’t impressed with me.

  “So what are we eating then?” I distracted them all with – well it was the only thing that would work!

 

  Once all the food had been eaten, everybody had gone and Jodie had escaped to somewhere, meaning that I finally had a chance to properly recover from this hangover. Or so I thought.

  In the middle of talking to Emma about who-knows-what, my phone began to ring; thinking it was Jodie, I sighed, but got the biggest surprise of my life when I saw it was Josh.

  “Soph? That thing that’s ringing in your hand? Yeah, you might wanna answer it.” Getting her back for thinking I was stupid, I answered.

  “Hey Josh.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, she started to jump around the place.

  “OHMIGOD YOU’RE TALKING TO JOSH FRANCESCHI?!?!” I nodded, praying that he didn’t hear that.

  “Hey Soph. It sounds like you’ve got a crazy person in the background.”

  “Maybe that’s because I have.” Obviously Emma could hear him, as she pouted and stormed off into her room. “So what’s up?”

  “Turns out that cus of the article, we’re now gonna do a few dates over here!” He sounded so adorably excited. “Just thought I’d let you know, seeing as you took the pics for it, and also... I can get you a backstage pass for a couple of the dates if you want.”

  My mouth dropped open. “That would be _so_ freaking amazing! And well done, I told you that you’d make it over here! Make sure you tell me how it all goes, okay?”

  “Of course I will. Hey, I bet that magazine that said neither of us would get very far are shooting themselves right now. Ah well, it’s their fault if they can’t see a good thing when they had it.”

  “Yeah, America appreciates us more than they’ll ever feel, so I guess it all worked out for the best.” I couldn’t help but to smile – what, he just said I was good!

  “It certainly did. Well I’ve got to go now, but I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay then, bye.”

  “Bye.” Just before I hung up, Josh said one last thing. “Oh, and Soph? Don’t let the haters get to you, cus you’re a pretty amazing person.”

  I felt the air rush out of my lungs; did he actually just _say_ that?! “I won’t, promise.” This time, I let him hang up, leaving me staring at the phone like a maniac, not wanting to believe that had just happened to me.


	11. Chapter 11

**_ Monday _ **

  While I was deep in sleep, I felt a hand viciously shaking me awake, prying me away from my dreams.

  “Wha...wha...what?” I asked, unable to make sense of anything around me. When my eyes finally decided to open themselves, I saw Jodie standing over me. “What time is it?”

  “Four in the morning.” _What?!_ Why the hell was she waking me up at this time?! “I just came to say goodbye.”

  “But your flight doesn’t leave till nine, so what’s all the rush?”

  “Cus I have to get there like five hours before or whatever, you douche.” She sat down on my bed.

  I sat up, giving her a hug. “Well that probably wasn’t helped by disappearing all yesterday, was it? Where were you?”

  It took her a moment or so to reply. “I just needed a little time to myself.”

  “...This wouldn’t be because of what Jack said, would it?”

  “No,” she lightly sighed, before changing the topic. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “I’m going to miss you more.” I pulled back, looking at her face. “Promise you’ll call every day, cus I need to talk to at least one person who’s not as crazy as Emma.”

  “…I’m not as crazy as Emma?”

  “I’m afraid so Jodie.” She giggled, though she made sure to keep it quiet. “Why are you whispering? It’s not like Emma’s gonna be asleep now or anything.”

  “No reason,” she replied, “I guess I’m just used to whispering at night.” Too tired to interrogate her further, I let the topic go.

  Feeling the sleep beginning to wash over me, I laid back and pulled the covers back over me. “Have fun then.”

  “Guess I’ll see you in two weeks.” I let her close the door, and although I thought I heard her talking outside my room, I ignored it and went back to sleep.

 

  After my disturbed sleep, I woke up, half an hour late for work. “Shit,” I muttered to myself, “damn Jodie and her flight.” Rushing around and chucking on any old clothes, I was out of the apartment within ten minutes, running as fast as I possibly could, but none of this helped, and I was still twenty minutes late. I was hoping to just slip in quietly and busy myself in the back of the studio, except as soon as I walked through the doors, I was ambushed by Seth.

  “Sophie, we’ve had a great response from the You Me At Six shots, and that live article about All Time Low, well that was just... incredible!” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Lemme tell you, if you can make every single thing that you touch as good as that, then your future here is certainly secured. Keep up the good work.” He walked away, leaving me to be thankful that he didn’t notice my lack of timekeeping. Everywhere I turned, it seemed as if there was another person to congratulate me for my shots and the idea of the article (apparently so many extra copies of the magazine had been sold that everyone had been given a temporary increase in their salary). When I walked into the studio, however, the praise seemed to dry up instantly, as Chelsea stopped me in my tracks.

  “What the hell did you think you were doing,” she spat venomously into my face. “I hired you to do band photography, _not_ to do live photography. If you _ever_ try to pull a dirty little stunt like that again, I’ll make sure you’re out of here so fast that your head spins. Have you got that _you stupid little girl_?” All I wanted to do right then was grab her long fake hair extensions and rip them out of that fucking air-head of hers. But of course I couldn’t do that, could I? So I just nodded, the anger building up inside me like a volcano; I could almost feel the heat radiating off of me. Once her back was turned, everything erupted out of me, and the wall took a good portion of it.

  “Stupid fucking bitch.” It was nearly impossible to keep my voice below a whisper, but Ree seemed to manage to hear me still.

  “What are you angry about? The magazine sold great because of you!” I turned to face her, and she gasped at the state of me.

  “Yeah, I guess you can tell I’m not great at the minute.” Before I had chance to kick the wall again, Ree steered me into the bathroom, and when I looked in the mirror it was a shock – my face had exploded into a red fire to rival my hair, tears were running down my face, and my eyeliner had smudged far beyond the regions of my eyes. This was definitely much, _much_ worse than a mess. “Why is it that every time that bitch pisses me off, I end up looking like this?”

  From somewhere, she produced some damp tissue and handed it to me. “You shouldn’t let her get to you like that – I mean, it’s not like she actually has any sort of authority around here, especially since everybody knows about her little arrangement.” That managed to raise a small smile from me, but still I wanted to hurt Chelsea so very badly.

  “Thanks,” I said as I dabbed at my eyes, desperately trying to improve the state of my face, though it was hardly making any difference at all.

  She shrugged. “Don’t mention it. We’ve all gotta stick up for each other where she’s concerned.” Quietly, Ree slipped out of the bathroom, leaving me to try and fix myself up before that cow had chance to realise she was the one who did this to me.

 

  As soon at that clock turned to five, I was out of there, sprinting home, desperate for any sort of escape. Except I couldn’t have that, could I, because when I opened the door, I saw Emma making out on the couch with who I could only presume to be Craig; she was so preoccupied that she didn’t even notice me back away and close the door behind me. Well what else was I going to do now? It’s not like I had anywhere else I could go (well, not after last week anyway), and I barely knew anybody else in this city. And then it hit me, the thing I was least expecting to happen to me at all; I was homesick, desperate to be in a familiar place with familiar faces that I at least knew. So I did the only thing I could think of – call the one other person in the city that I could talk to.

  Anxiously I waited for them to pick up, each ring making it less certain they wanted to talk to me. “Hey Soph.”

  “Jack,” my voice was barely above a whisper, “can you come meet me? I really need someone to talk to, and Emma’s kind of busy right now and...”

  “Sure, if it’ll get me away from this _moron_.”

  I heard Alex yelling in the background. “Oh, you think that you can go and take the crap out of me just because I didn’t know you couldn’t go past security!”

  “What sort of idiot doesn’t know that? It’s not like in the movies you know...”

  “Both of you just shut up!” I yelled down the phone; I really wasn’t in the mood for any of their shit today.

  “…Sorry Soph.” I _think_ I heard Jack mutter. “I’ll meet you in the park in five minutes.” With that, he hung up, leaving me feeling alone again, even if it was only for a few minutes. In a desperate attempt to keep myself from crying, I started to replay every happy memory that I had in my head. Though that did absolutely nothing, because I was too stressed to think happy. Why was this so hard? Earlier today I was grinning so much I thought my face was going to split in half, but now I had crashed so much it felt like I was never going to be that happy again.

  “What’s up?” A voice whispered in my ear. I jumped up from the bench, only to be greeted by Jack’s stupidly grinning face. Shrugging, I felt like everything around me was going wrong, but I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason for it. In an instant I found his arms wrapped around my body, pulling me in closer to him. “Hey, you’re really upset about something aren’t you?” I simply buried my head deeper into his chest, longing for that feeling of some sort of security.

  “I miss home,” I somehow managed to garble a few minutes later. “Hardly anything here seems to have gone right. I just wanna give up and go home. I guess they were all right when they said I would be a failure over here.”

  “Don’t _ever_ say that again,” Jack growled.

  “What?” I asked, puzzled.

  “That you’re a failure.” He placed his hands on my shoulders. “You’re one of the few people I have met in my life that has actually achieved something, and whether you realise that or not, it’s what all your friends think too.”

  “Meh,” I sat back down on the bench, “I dunno. Maybe I will go back to England.”

  Jack’s face dropped. “Oh. Well, if you do go back, I’ll miss you every single day.”

  I managed to weakly laugh at this, resting my head on his shoulder. It really was quite incredible just how comfortable we were around each other without having known each other for very long. “You’ll still have everyone else to look after you, you silly thing. It’s not like you’ll go hungry or anything.”

  “But I won’t have my Soph around! That’s even worse than no food, and lemme tell you something, that’s _bad_.” I just didn’t know how I could reply to that, so instead I sat there, stroking his arm, and trying to tell myself that everything was going to be okay. Truthfully, I had no idea if it ever would be.


	12. Chapter 12

** Wednesday **

  As soon as my eyes opened, I so badly wished that they could go to sleep again, not wanting to associate with anyone today; lucky that I didn’t have to get up and go to work then. Not being able to go back to sleep, I simply lay on my back, staring at the ceiling, wondering where everything went wrong in the picture-perfect dream that was moving to New York with two of my best friends. This was meant to be a freaking _escape_ from my life, not driving me further into the pits of Hell.

  There was a tentative knock on the door. “Soph?” Emma nervously asked. What did she expect, for me to have escaped back to England in the middle of the night or something?

  “I don’t wanna talk.” I turned onto my stomach, burying my head deep into my pillow – even though it wasn’t Jack, it was the next best thing.

  “Come on Soph, I’m really worried about you now. Everyone is.”

  “I said piss off Emma!” In my fury, I grabbed something, though I’m not entirely sure what it was, and hurled it at the door, watching as it exploded into a million different pieces. Somehow, the sheer sight of this set me off into hysteria, and I heard no more from Emma after that, guessing that she escaped from the ‘crazy lady’. What was _happening_ to me? I never used to be like this, it was all about just enjoying life and being with good friends, but now... now I couldn’t seem to see straight at all. It was definitely this city that was making me crazy, no doubt about it. For once, I actually began to seriously consider moving back to England – would the trip only be for one though? From what I could tell, Emma was pretty settled here now, what with Craig and all, and I’m guessing there’s no way Jodie would want to move back permanently after what happened to her when she was living there, so it seemed like if I did go, I would be returning alone.

  Noticing it was nearly two in the afternoon, I rolled out of bed, stumbled into the living room, turned on the television, and collapsed back onto the couch, not caring that I was still in my pyjamas. The white noise from the television did its job for a bit, drowning out my thoughts, but I couldn’t keep them away forever, and once again they came rolling back, taking my mood further down. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t shake the thought of going back to England for good. Did that mean I should do it? Well, surely if I was thinking about it, then it meant I wasn’t happy here (though it wasn’t like I was a barrel of laughs back there all the time either). This was a hard decision, one that could be a major turning point in my life, so if I didn’t make the right choice, then that’s my life screwed up; no pressure then. It must have taken about an hour’s serious thought, but I eventually made my decision – I would go back to England. Maybe not forever, but I definitely needed some time to get my priorities sorted, to get my life on the right track. At the moment, I wasn’t happy here, and whether it was just because of work or from other things too, I wasn’t sure – all I knew is that something had to be done, and now. Thinking about how I was going to tell Emma was nearly heartbreaking. I mean, how the hell was I meant to tell her that I dragged her thousands of miles away from her home and other friends, just to turn round two weeks later and tell her that I wanted out? Obviously she would not let me off lightly for this, and still it consumed me when I fell asleep some time later.

 

  I couldn’t breathe when I woke up; it felt like someone had stolen all my oxygen while I was asleep. Opening my eyes, the most horrible sight was in front of me – wild orange flames engulfed most corners of the apartment, filling the rest of the room with what could only be described as thick black toxic smoke. My instincts told me to yell out for help, but my throat was so dry I couldn’t even make a croak, and I knew then that I was in big trouble. Desperately trying to find any air whatsoever, I crawled down to the floor, only to be greeted with yet more smoke. By now, I knew the only thing I could do was to get out, and so I began the slow and painful journey towards the door, but it was never going to be – about seventeen seconds after moving, I started to feel lightheaded, the room spinning around me. Attempting to keep conscious was near impossible, with it becoming apparent that I was going to lose the fight. That’s when I saw a figure standing in front of me, cautiously coming closer. Then I blacked out.


	13. Chapter 13

** Friday **

  Everything around me was quiet – too quiet. Apart from the occasional beeping of some machine, everything else was deathly silent. Then a voice in the distance began to mutter something too softly for my ears to be able to pick it up. Slowly, however, it began to get closer to me, and every other noise became amplified with it. Eventually, I could hear everything clearly again. And then my eyes opened.

  “Soph!” A pair of arm wrapped tightly against my neck. “Oh my God I was _sooo_ worried about you, cus they were saying that no-one could go back into the apartment and then they had all these people running inside…”

  “Emma, you need to give her a bit of space.” Reluctantly, I felt the arms move away from me, and slowly the world came into focus – I was laying in a bare, white room, the only injection of colour coming from the various machines that surrounded my bed, which were connected to me by what felt like hundreds of different tubes and cables. Warily, I attempted to move my arm, but I gave up on the idea when everyone seemed to jump up to stop me.

  “Where… what… what happened?” My throat still felt impossibly dry; intensely I looked around, desperate for any sort of fluids, but nobody seemed to get the hint.

  Whoever was in the room seemed unwilling to answer me. “…There was a fire at the apartment and you were trapped inside. They didn’t think… nobody could get…” Emma broke down into floods of tears, unable to contain her overwhelming sense of near-loss.

  “Shh,” Jack wrapped his arms around Emma and let her cry onto his top; it reminded me of what I’d done only a couple of weeks ago, “she’s fine now, they said she’s gonna make a full recovery.

  “But… but…” Words failed her at that moment, her attempts drowned out by her sobs. “What would I have done if she didn’t? How would I…”

  “I am still here.” The words felt like fire in my throat, but I needed Emma to calm down before she became hysterical.

  Luckily, this managed to raise the smallest of smiles from her. “I know. But don’t ever do that to me again, okay? You scared the shit out of me.” Still unable to speak, I nodded, and held out my arms towards the both of them. Tentatively, they each placed an arm around me, and I enjoyed the feeling of having two of my closest friends watching and worrying over me. “Oh,” Emma said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, “Jodie said she wanted to speak to you as soon as you woke up.” She whipped her phone out of her pocket and began to press some buttons.

  “Sure… but can I have some water first?” Before the words were even out of my mouth, Jack grabbed the water jug from the other side of the room (seriously, whose smart idea was it to put it there) and poured it into a plastic cup, placing a straw in as well.

  “Be careful.” He placed the straw in my mouth, holding the cup all the time. Graciously, I drank it up as fast as I could, before going about the next two cupfuls in a similar manner. “Okay, I think that’s enough for you now. Don’t want you overdoing it.” If I could of, I would have whined at him, but those three cups on my throat felt like a drop of water had been added into a desert.

  “Hey Jodie,” Emma spoke into her phone. “Yeah, she’s awake now. Lemme just pass you over to her.” Copying Jack, she held the phone to my ear, not letting me do anything for myself.

  “Sophie!” Jodie was careful not to screech, but I knew she wanted to. “Do you know how scared we all were about you? Emma even had Josh calling about you! I mean, how the hell would he have found out about it?”

  “Well I’m getting better now.” I still found it hard to speak, but at least it was slightly less painful than before.

  She laughed. “You know, you could have just said if you _really_ didn’t want me to go; I would have stayed.”

  “Wait, what do you mean?” Even though I was still a little out of it, it sounded like she was trying to imply something.

  “I’m catching a plane back,” Jodie said as she struggled against the noise in the background.

  “What? Why are you doing that?”

  She sighed; what, it’s not my fault I couldn’t understand! “You’re a lot more important than being over here, _believe_ me.”

  With the way my mind currently was, I was getting confused easily. “So wait, where are you now? I mean, right now.”

  “I’m in the departures lounge, just waiting for my flight to be called.” Okay, because _that_ wasn’t weird, not at all. There was still one last thing that I needed to ask her though, while I still remembered.

  “So did you see him then?”

  There was an anxious pause. “...Who’s in the room with you?”

  “Emma and Jack.” Whether this was good or bad, I didn’t really understand.

  “Can they hear you?” Why was this all so important?

  “Yeah,” Jack yelled.

  I ignored him. “Come on, just tell me anyway.”

  “...Fine. I was meant to be seeing him today, but then I heard about you and I’ve been spending most of my time trying to get back there... Sorry, but my battery’s getting pretty low, and I need to save some for when I get back there, so I’ll see you in about ten hours or so.” Silently, I was thankful that I didn’t have to talk for long, but I was still upset that she had to go.

  “Okay then, I’ll see you when you get back.” We said our goodbyes and Jodie hung up, with me letting Emma take the phone away. “I’m still feeling a bit tired...”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll give you some quiet.” Jack escorted Emma out of the room, and not even five seconds later, my head hit the pillow, transferring me to a dreamless sleep.

 

  A bit later I woke up again, and thankfully nobody else was in the room with me, leaving me peacefully alone with my own thoughts. Or so I thought, until Jack poked his head around the door a few minutes later.

  “Hey, is it okay if I talk to you for a sec? I managed to distract Emma.”

  Now _that_ was impressive. “How the hell did you do that?” I asked with a look of awe on my face.

  “Just show her the candy in the machine, give her a dollar, and she’s too busy talking to herself to notice me slip away into the background.”

  “Wow,” I said as Jack sat on the edge of the bed. “I really am impressed.”

  “Thanks.” Awkwardly, we sat (okay, he sat, I lay) in silence, not having anything to say for once. “So did you mean it? When you said you were moving back to England, I mean.”

  “I don’t know.” I was too tired to think about any of this now. “I wanted to, but you saw how upset Emma got just. If I told her I was moving back, it would be a million times worse than that, and I don’t think I could do that to her.”

  “Okay, I know you said you’re not sure, but I’m begging you, please, stay,” he pleaded with his eyes. “If for nothing else, then for me.” Jack took my hand, I’m guessing in some sort of attempt to stop me going anywhere.

  “Look,” I told him, “I just don’t know at the moment. And anyway, it’s not like I’m going anywhere soon.”

  “Oh.” Somehow, this made Jack tighten his grip on me – and strangely, I didn’t want him to let go. What was happening to me? It never used to be like this between us… But before I could pursue it further, a nurse came into the room.

  “Visiting hours are over now.” Clearly agitated, Jack looked back and forth from me and the nurse, finally deciding that he would have to go without a fight.

  “Okay, I’ll see you later Soph.” Quickly, so as not to cause himself any embarrassment, he kissed my forehead and made his way out of the room. When I dared to look up, I was greeted with a judging stare.

  “Your boyfriend seems nice,” she absentmindedly commented, though I knew all she was really hoping for was gossip.

  “Oh, he’s not my boyfriend.” She raised an eyebrow, obviously thinking we were living in sin or something. What, it’s not like it’s that unusual for friends to kiss each other and not having it mean there’s something between them… but I don’t know, it almost felt like I _wanted_ there to be something between us. What was I thinking? Jack and I were just friends, and that’s all we would ever be, end of.

  So why couldn’t I shake these feelings off?

 

  _Eventually_ that nosy nurse finished whatever thing she was pretending to do, but those thoughts stayed with me. Just as I was about to analyse everything that he’d ever said to me (yes, I was this determined to find out what the hell I was feeling), I heard a cough at the door – and my heart stopped when I saw who it was.

  “I’m guessing you found out from Josh then.” I didn’t ask Max, I told him; well there wasn’t any other way that he could have found out.

  “Actually,” he admitted as he closed the door behind him, “I’m the one who told him about it. I was the one who rescued you from the apartment.”

  I could _not_ be hearing this right – Max was the one who saved me from the fire? “What?” No other words would come out of my mouth, as I was in too big a shock.

  “Yeah. I was walking past and they were saying someone was trapped inside…”

  “Oh my God.” I was really having a hard time trying to process this. “So you’re that person? Shouldn’t you be in hospital or something?” He shrugged.

  “Already got checked over and shit.”

  That still didn’t answer my question. “But why? It’s not like you know me that well anyway.”

  Awkwardly, he started to mess around with his hands. “Well, um, the thing is, I... I really like you.” This was not happening. Max Helyer did not just admit he likes me. _Me_. I must be dreaming. Or out of it from the drugs. Yeah, that must be it.

  “I really like you too.” Okay, obviously I wasn’t with it, because if I was feeling alright, I would have never said that in a million years because, you know, he’s Max and thousand of girls pine after him and... Before I could register what was happening, Max’s lips found his way onto mine, and for once in my life, I was completely and utterly speechless; desperately, I tried to pinch myself, but it did nothing. And then it hit me that I wasn’t dreaming. Calming myself down before I got too crazily happy, all I could do was smile – my New York fairytale had finally come true.


	14. Chapter 14

**_ One month later _ **

  This is the last time I wake up at 5am, and also the _very_ last time I go along with one of Emma’s plans, I told myself. Right now, we were stealthily creeping along outside Jodie’s room, though I didn’t see why we had to – it wasn’t like she was ever awake at this time of the morning anyway!

  “Let me tell you,” I whispered furiously to Emma, “she will _not_ be happy with this.”

  “Oh she’ll love it,” she waved at me. Cautiously, we pushed open her door, pausing when it creaked ever-so-slightly, though obviously she didn’t wake up. Taking our positions, Emma gave me the signal – and I accidently leant on the light switch.

  “Wha...?” Jodie grumbled from the comfort of her bed, shielding her eyes from the intruding light. Once adjusted, she let her fury out. “What the fuck are you two doing in here at... _five in the morning?!?!_ ”

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” Me and Emma shouted together, before jumping onto the available space on Jodie’s bed.

  “...Why did you two have to remember?” She tried to be angry, but failed as a smile spread across her face.

  “We remember cus we do, okay? Now open my present first.” Emma forced the small package onto Jodie, who had no choice but to open it right there and then.

  “Okay then...” Nervously, her hands began to unwrap the paper, and stopped when just enough had been removed to unveil the surprise inside. “Trust _you_ to be the one to get me this.” Removing it completely from the paper, Jodie held up a cookie recipe book; yep, there’s Emma stomach at work again. “Thank you, surprisingly it’s actually a good present.”

  As Jodie went to hug her, Emma got there first, squeezing the life out of her. “Well, it’s just that I saw this, and then I looked in it, and there’s the most _amazing_ recipes! I didn’t know there was more than one type of cookie!”

  “So yeah... her present is pretty much more for her benefit than yours,” I laughed along. “Here’s mine.” Carefully, so as to not risk damaging my gift, I handed it to Jodie, and Emma’s eyes widened.

  “Hey, yours is bigger than mine!” She started to complain.

  “That’s what she said,” Jodie faintly muttered, causing us to stare at her like she’d just declared herself queen of the world – however, she failed to notice this, and continued to unwrap. “Oh my God... Soph, that’s beautiful.” Before I could utter a ‘thanks’ back, she squished me tighter than I thought would have been possible for her. “Where the hell did you take it?”

  “Sorry, can’t tell you,” I teased her. “It’s a secret place that even _I_ shouldn’t know about.”

  Pulling away, Jodie studied her present again. “Well wherever it is, it’s amazing.” Almost instantly, she stood up on the bed and tried to find a place for the night skyline canvas, finding it hard to keep her balance. “Yeah... think I’ll put it up later on.” Once she was sat firmly back down, she looked both of us in the eye. “Now you have to promise me something, and you actually have to keep this promise as well, otherwise I _will_ murder both of you.”

  “Okay...?” I shakily replied; Emma being Emma wasn’t fazed by the threat at all.

  “You have to promise me that nobody else finds out it’s my birthday, okay?” I didn’t even need to glance at Emma to be able to tell that the blood was draining from her face.

  “Um... why do you say that?”

  Unsure, Jodie shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s just me being paranoid, but I’m scared they’ll do something.” Obviously, she didn’t need to elaborate on who she meant when she said _they_. Quickly, I tried to deflect attention away from Emma.

  “Well it’s going to say that it’s your birthday today on Facebook...”

  “ _Shit!_ ” As quick as anything, she jumped from her bed and grabbed her laptop. “Come _on_ you stupid thing, load up for fuck’s sake!” All the swearing that Jodie was doing was Emma’s signal to sneak out and pray that it wasn’t too late to change the plan. “Please please please please...” she began to mumble to herself.

  “Jodie,” I tried to calm her down, “it’s five in the morning. I’m sure nobody’s noticed it yet, okay?!” But she wouldn’t listen, and kept telling me to shut up until she’d done that thing which meant no-one could see it was her birthday. “There, you’re done. Now can we go back to sleep?”

  “If you wanted to sleep,” Jodie said as she shut down the laptop, “then you shouldn’t have agreed to go along with Emma’s plan now, should you?” Damn, she had me there, though I wasn’t really sure why I agreed to it in the first place anyway...

  “Fine, fine,” I grumbled to myself as I slowly crawled back to my bedroom. But not before checking in on Emma first. “What the hell are you doing?” I furiously whispered to her – she was sat at her computer, looking like she was about to bounce off the walls.

  “This,” she looked me in the eye, unable to keep a grin off her face, “is my most genius plan _ever_!” Silently, I sighed to myself, finding that I was the teeniest bit intrigued as to what she had done now. “Right, well if Jodie has taken her birthday off Facebook, then nobody’s gonna know it’s her birthday, right?”

  “Yeah...”

  “Wrong!” Her voice startled me, and I was worried that Jodie may come knocking on the door any second.

  “Oh God,” I said as I moved myself to look at the screen. “What have you done...” On the screen was Emma’s Facebook page – and she had written a status saying ‘It’s Jodie’s birthday today! Go spam her page!’ I was in shock... at just how stupid Emma could be. “You _idiot_! She’s going to see that!”

  Emma, obviously starting to tire of me, sighed. “And that is why I’m letting everyone _but_ her see it. It’s really just science Soph.”

  “Oh.” In my head, I was laughing _so_ hard; Jodie was going to have absolutely no idea how people found out about her birthday! “Well, I’m gonna go and sleep now,” I said as I headed for the door. “I’ll see you in about an hour.”

  “Yeah, sure,” she murmured back, too engrossed with what was on the screen to care about what I was doing. Obviously she was stalking Craig again then...

 

  So maybe I lied to Emma – I was asleep for another hour and a half before I had enough energy to do anything. Trying to dart into the bathroom before anybody else had a chance to sneak in, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the pancakes.

  “You’re not _seriously_ cooking pancakes, are you?”

  “Put it this way,” Jodie turned around and slid a plate with about five pancakes on towards me, “if I can stay on Emma’s good side today, then I might actually survive through this day.”

  Reaching for a fork, I pondered this for a moment. “And you don’t think that I could come up with a master plan?”

  “I’m more afraid of her plans than yours.” Grabbing a second plate, she banged on Emma’s door. “Hey, I’ve got pancakes!” Within a split second, the door opened, the plate disappeared, and the door slammed shut. “...Is it just me, or does she get hungrier by the day?”

  “Definitely hungrier.” For a few minutes after that, there was silence between us, only broken by the noise of me eating and the sizzling from the pan, before Jodie collapsed next to me on the couch, her own plate of pancakes in her hand. “So what’s your plans for today then?”

  “Nothing much,” she shrugged. “I guess I’ll just stay here all day.”

  “You can’t do that! That’s what you do every single day!” Just to explain, Jodie quit her job about two weeks ago, and even though she wasn’t angry or sad over it, she hadn’t exactly done much since. “Okay,” I tried to bargain with her, “if you’re going to do that, then let’s at least do a movie day or something.”

  “...You just want to watch Toy Story.” It was a statement more than a question.

  “So? Look, we’ve got plenty of cookie dough ice cream in the freezer.” She still didn’t seem convinced. “I’ll let you pick the first two movies.”

  This was the deal-maker. “Okay then. You go get Emma to come out here, and I’ll get the food.” Jumping up, Jodie headed back to the kitchen, taking my now empty plate with her, leaving me with the thankless task of disturbing Emma. “Hey, lazy arse, get out here.”

  “Make me!” Shoving the door open, I lunged for her, dragging her kicking and screaming away from the computer. “No, I’m in the middle of something important! YOU’LL RUIN THE PLAN!!!” Ignoring her please, I ended up dragging her along the floor, before dumping her in front of the television.

  “STAY here,” I threatened her when she tried to get up; she could tell by the look in my eyes that I was serious, and so sat herself down on the couch with a pout. Fortunately for the sanity of all of us, Emma cheered up considerably when presented with a tub of ice cream, and the movie fest began; strangely enough, Jodie hadn’t chosen any rom-coms. “In a cynical mood or something today?” I joked with her.

  “Eh, just don’t feel like watching other kinds of movies at the moment.” In near silence, we continued to watch A Nightmare On Elm Street, until the suspense became too much for me.

  “How come you haven’t talked about Alex recently?” From the corner of my eye, I could see Emma turning her attention towards the conversation.

  Never taking her eyes from the screen, Jodie replied. “Don’t see the need to.”

  “You’re lying,” Emma butted in. “Your favourite hobby has got to be talking about him, so tell us the real reason.”

  “...I don’t know, I think I’ve just gotten a reality check and realised that it’s never going to happen between us. I mean, come on, he’s _never_ going to be interested in me.” Now, where had I heard this before...?

  “Okay, I can’t take this anymore,” I said as I turned to properly face her. “Jodie, Alex likes you, he told me himself, so would you two just get together already? It’s driving the rest of us nuts!”

  “What?” Her face went into complete and utter shock, unable to process the information she was hearing. “How the hell do you know that?”

  “He told me a couple of days before you left to go to England, cus he told me that he wrote Coffee Shop Soundtrack about you...” I could have sworn I saw something in her face change, but it was gone before I could be sure.

  “Wait, he wrote that... about _me_?” But before I could repeat what I’d just said, there was a knock at the door.

  “I’ll get it!” Emma yelled as she rushed to answer the door, while I paused the movie. “Oh, hey Alex.” As soon as she said that, I shot a nervous glance to Jodie – who gave me exactly the same look back. Right then, I felt stupid for telling her; it wasn’t _for_ me to tell her, and now... now I might have ruined everything.

  “Wow,” I muttered, trying to hide the tension that was currently in the room, “I didn’t think he knew nine in the morning existed.”

  Jumping up, Jodie tried to hide her shock. “Shit, I’m still in my pyjamas,” she grumbled to herself. “What are you doing here Alex?”

  “And a good morning to you too,” he chuckled. “I came to say happy birthday.”

  “How the _fuck_ did you know?!”

  Glancing between me and Emma, Alex replied. “Um, I’m guessing that it’s probably best for me not to answer that right now.” I nodded towards him, thankful that he had thought of our safety. “Anyway,” he said as he walked over to her, “it would have been bad of me not to know your birthday.”

  “Believe it or not, I would have forgiven you for it.” She stood there, a grin spread across her face. Okay, I was confused, what the hell was going on? Shouldn’t she have been embarrassed beyond belief, considering what we had just been saying to her?

  “Well that’s too bad, cus I’m going to say it anyway – happy birthday.” Sleekly, he gave Jodie a hug, seeming to forget that me and Emma were still watching.

  “Um... I think we need to tell these two.” By this point, I was officially lost by the conversation. “Guys, there’s something that we should tell you.” Alex had stopped hugging her and had now wrapped his arm around her waist...

  “ _OHMIGOD!!!!!!!_ ” Emma yelled at the top of her voice, but I didn’t even need that to tell me exactly what was going on. “You did _not_ keep this from us! How long have you two been together?”

  “About three weeks,” Alex answered – well it’s not like Jodie could have if she wanted to, seeing as that grin just completely filled her face.

  “Aaah, I can’t believe you didn’t tell us sooner!!!” Like a dart, Emma had raced over and was squeezing the life out of both of them.

  Jodie tried to communicate with me and failed, the air obviously being squeezed out of her, but she couldn’t move anything either. “Don’t worry,” I told her, “I’ll wait until she’s done killing the pair of you.” Somehow, she managed to smile back at me, but this might have been because Emma began to focus her attention on me instead.

  “I am not killing them, it’s called showing my happiness, so I’m sorry that we all can’t be as gloomy as you.” Rolling my eyes at her, I couldn’t help but to laugh at her naivety.

  “Anyway, ignoring her, I’m really happy for you two.”

  “Thanks,” Jodie faintly spoke, a blush starting to appear on her cheeks.

  “Well I’ve got to go now,” Alex said as he turned back to her. “I’ll see you later.” Anxiously looking around him, he decided to go for it, and so gave her a quick kiss before heading out of the door, leaving Jodie at the mercy of Emma and me.

  “Okay, you need to tell us _everything_!” Emma said as she dragged her back to the couch, leaving the movie on pause; I followed behind them, just as desperate to know the details.

  “Um,” she began, clearly overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught she was experiencing, “well I guess it all started when I had just arrived back from England, and he was there waiting for me in arrivals.” So badly did I want to go ‘aww’ right then, but I knew Jodie wouldn’t continue telling us if I did. “When I asked him why he was there, he said that he thought I’d need a lift to the hospital, so I accepted. Then when we were in the car, he started to tell me the real reason why he’d picked me up, and said that he liked me, so he wanted to know if I wanted to go out with him sometime. I told him that I didn’t want to while Soph was still in hospital, but once she was better I would do. And that’s about it.”

  For some weird reason, that made me feel bad. “Jodie, you could have gone out with Alex when I was hospital, I wouldn’t have minded. In fact, it would have made me happier.”

  “No,” she shook her head, “I couldn’t really concentrate on anything else at that moment.” Looking at her, I could tell she didn’t just mean about me being in hospital.

  “Ah right.” Emma, not picking up on the signals, dove straight in with her next question.

  “So why didn’t you tell us about it? I mean, what did you think we would have done?” Laughing at her own question, she didn’t quite realise what was running through Jodie’s, and partly my own, mind.

  “I don’t know... we thought it would be better if we kept it a secret, well, for the beginning anyway. Otherwise, we would have been worried that we were being judged and scrutinized over it nearly every second... Plus it felt really nice being able to focus on just us, instead of constantly thinking about what everybody else thought about us.” Wow, they really had thought of _everything_ before doing a single thing – it just shows how much they wanted this to work.

  “So,” Emma spoke up after a short silence, “have you two...”

  However, Jodie stopped her before she had chance to complete her question. “Finish that sentence and I promise you will not live for much longer, okay?”

  “God, chill, I was gonna ask if you’d been on a date yep,” she said as she sulked.

  “No you weren’t,” I told her, “and we all know it.”

  “Fine!” she admitted. “Sorry that I was showing an interest in something, I’ll make sure to keep my mouth shut next time.”

  “But...”

  “Nope, that’s not gonna cut it with me.” Finally she shut up, even if only for a few seconds. “Soph,” she whispered to me, “does that mean she has or she hasn’t?” I rolled my eyes exasperatedly at her – I guess we weren’t done then. Well, Emma at least.

  “I am still here you know!” Jodie tried to draw some attention to herself, knowing that this topic was fully off-limits.

  Turning back to Emma with a sigh, I had the answer. “That means no. Now shush about it,” I said as I plonked my legs on top of Emma as I lay back on the couch, “I want to get onto Toy Story sometime today.”

 

  Once I had annoyed everyone by quoting the entire Toy Story movie, we decided to take a quick break so we could get dressed. While Emma was taking over the bathroom for what would probably be the best part of half an hour, I decided to go snooping on her computer, and see just what was so important. Taking care to make sure the door was locked, I woke up the computer – and could hardly believe what I was seeing. Emma’s wall was absolutely _spammed_ by wall posts from Zack, each one more sexual than the last (well what do you expect, it’s Emma).

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Hearing that voice, I jumped, wondering how the hell she managed to unlock the door.

  Not being able to think, I said the only thing that came to my mind. “I thought you were with Craig.”

  “No,” she shook her head, “he had a lot to sort out over custody of his daughter, so we decided it best that he got all that sorted out first.”

  “So you’re on a break then?”

  “Kind of. Yeah. I don’t know... we’re not together at the moment, and that’s the end of it.” Sitting on my lap, she took the mouse from my hand and starting scrolling further and further down the page, her face erupting with happiness each time she saw a new one.

  “So... you and Zack, huh?”

  “Yep.” Emma didn’t so much as glance at me, still distracted by Facebook.

  Shoving her off of me, I stood up and headed for the door. “Are there any more secret relationships I should know about, or are we done for today?”

  “Depends how ‘secret’ Jodie feels like keeping her bit on the side.”

  “Wow, somebody’s being funny.” Ducking as fast as I could to avoid the pillow that Emma threw at me, I went and claimed the bathroom as mine, making sure that the door was properly locked this time. But even then I didn’t get the luxury of having some peace and quiet for myself, as Emma came banging on the door no more than five minutes later.

  “You’ve got a text!” she yelled through the door, “and if you don’t come out here within the next ten seconds, I’m going to read it! One, two, three...”

  “Alright, alright,” I gargled to her as I took the toothbrush out of my mouth and spat the contents into the sink before swinging the door wide open and stealing the phone straight from her hands.

  “Hey, I was gonna read that!”

  “I was under ten seconds, so suck on it.” Holding my middle finger up to her, I scrolled through the text, hardly surprised by the contents. ‘ _Soph, can we meet up tonight? Feels like forever since I last saw you. M xxx_ ’ This was unbelievable – he freaking _knew_ that I wouldn’t be free at all today, I remember telling him that several times. “It’s your bloody fault for being busy all the time,” I muttered to myself.

  In an instant, Emma wrapped her arm around me. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Too angry to reply, I showed her the message, and I could tell when she had read it too because her grip on me tightened. “Sometimes that guy makes me so... I know he’s yours and everything, but he’s such a _douche_ at times!”

  “Mhmm.” I couldn’t have agreed with her more if I wanted to. I text him back, knowing that he probably wouldn’t ‘get the message’ _again_. ‘ _Can’t, it’s my friend’s birthday today, remember? xxx_ ’ Pushing the ‘Send’ button a lot harder than I should have done, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow wash upon me. “Why doesn’t he listen to me, Emma? He’s my boyfriend, he’s _supposed_ to listen to me!”

  “Don’t get yourself worked up about it,” Emma tried to calm me down, “it’s not worth it. Now look, we want today to just be about friends hanging out and not caring about the stupid things that people do, so don’t let this get in the way.” Weakly, I nodded, feeling like it was taking all the willpower in the world to stop me crying.

  “I know... I know I shouldn’t worry about it, but it happens _all the time_.” Shaking myself out of my near-depression, I went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready, a tear managing to escape from my eyes.

 

  Fortunately I managed to get over that little episode and compose myself enough to join everyone else in the living room. Well, only Emma was there, taking up an entire couch, a packet of cookies in her hand. Not being able to resist, I stole one that was mere centimetres from her mouth, and she was not happy about it at all.

  “...Did you actually plan to live to the end of today?”

  “Eh,” I shrugged as I stuffed the cookie into my mouth, “I’m not bothered either way.”

  “You asked for it.” Somehow managing to get up off that fat arse of hers, she tackled me to the floor, trying to reclaim the cookie as her own.

  “No, get off!” Struggling underneath her, I tried to poke her in the belly, but my hands were firmly pinned in place.

  “You knew what the consequences were!”

  Eventually, I shoved her off of me, and as I stood up to breathe again, I laid eyes on Jodie – who looked very different from usual, what with her hair straightened for once and all. “Wow... what happened to you? You look...”

  “I look crap, don’t I?” She sat down with a sigh. “I knew it, I knew I shouldn’t have bothered.”

  “No! It’s just... I’m not used to seeing you so dressed up.” She attempted to smile, but she just couldn’t seem to manage it. “So why are you anyway?”

  “Um...”

  Me and Emma looked at each other. “ _Awwwwwww!!!_ ” The look that Jodie gave us could have killed in an instant.

  “No, shut up both of you!!!” Trying, but failing, to attack us, she started turning bright red. “But seriously... do I look okay?”

  “Yes!” Emma practically screeched. “You look fine! Now go and ditch us for Alex already!”

  “Oh God, I _am_ ditching you guys...”

  “Jodie,” I looked her in the eye, “we give you permission, okay? I mean, it’s your birthday, you can go do what the fuck you want to.”

  “...Are you sure?”

  “ _Yes!_ ” Me and Emma said simultaneously again. We were seriously going to have to deal with that...

  “Okay then.” Giddily, she headed out of the door, leaving me alone with Emma. If I was going to be able to deal with her, then I was going to need coffee, and fast.

 

  For the next couple of hours, we just lounged around, throwing random things at each other at random times. As much fun as it was, however, I needed to actually do something with the day. Or at least get out of the apartment to stop myself going crazy.

  Grabbing my coat, I left, not really knowing where I was going to go – but that was the fun of it, just being able to explore on my own, not having any worries about having to be somewhere at a certain time or whatever. It was what I had come here in search for, and finally I had found it; that balance between enjoying my life and being able to have time for myself. But I couldn’t just take all the credit – there’s no way that I would have got here without my friends. Which reminded me...

  Pulling out my phone, I dialled that one number that was so familiar to me, I could have called it in my sleep. One ring, two rings, three rings, and still the twat didn’t pick up! “...Hello?” The voice sleepily answered.

  “It’s about time! What the hell are you doing still being asleep at four in the afternoon?”

  “I’m sorry that we’re not all as crazily hyper as you!” Jack grumpily replied.

  “Screw you, you whore!” I screamed down the phone, and clamped my hand over my mouth when I realised just how loud I was being. “Anyway, think you can get your ass out of bed long enough to come meet me?”

  There was a slight hesitation from the other end of the phone. “...Not today, Soph. If you wanna see me, then come round here.”

  “What’s wrong, Jacky?” His tone was scaring me slightly.

  “Eh, it’s one of those things that’s better explained in person. And if you’re coming round, can you pick me some food up?”

  “Fine, I sighed, “but you’re gonna have to pay me back for all this one day!”

  “See you in a bit Soph,” he said whilst laughing – if he thought I was joking about that, then he’s got another thing coming!

  Hanging up the phone, I went to the nearest food place, which thankfully sold pizza. Picking up two (he wasn’t a fan of pineapple, and it was the only topping I really liked), I walked over to Jack’s, the pizza boxes nearly burning my hands. Thankfully, it wasn’t a long journey to his place, and I soon found myself juggling the boxes, trying to knock on his door. “Ugh,” I grumbled to myself, “why does he never think to unlock this stupid thing? Open up, you idiot!”

  The door swung open, causing me to nearly fall through. “Maybe it’s because I don’t want to let all the weirdoes like you in. There’s only so much I can take, you know!” Even though he was still as jokey as ever, Jack’s face looked as rough as hell – he obviously hadn’t shaved recently, and, even though I thought it looked good on him, I knew that it meant something was wrong with him.

  “Here, I brought you food.” Shoving the boxes into his empty hands, I walked through the door, waiting for him to start complaining again. However, he didn’t, and instead placed the boxes down next to the couch, picking up the first slice that he laid his eyes on. With a little prompting, he then handed me a slice as well.

  “I’ll never understand why you like pineapple so much.”

  “No,” I told him, the thought of the reason behind it making me blush slightly, “and you never shall. Now spill about why you’re so depressed all of a sudden.”

  As soon as I said that, he stopped eating. “Turns out that Holly wasn’t interested in me as a person, and that she was just trying to get further herself, so I broke it off a couple of days ago.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that Jack.” Okay so I wasn’t – she _definitely_ wasn’t high on my favourite list of people.

  “Eh, it’s not like you could have done anything about it, is it?”

  “...But it doesn’t mean that you have to stay indoors like a vampire, does it?” Jack looked away from me, obviously knowing what the answer was. “So come on – get dressed and we’ll meet all the others, okay?”

  “I don’t think I could handle it right now. You don’t mind if we stay here, do you?” The way his eyes pleaded with me... it was almost frightening in a way, but they also held something that I wasn’t quite sure about yet.

  “No, of course not.” I forced a smile across my face and grabbed another slice of pizza.

  The silence that built up between us was definitely awkward, like there was something that needed to be said... “Soph?” Jack eventually asked me.

  “Yeah?”

  “What... what would you do if there was someone that you liked, but you couldn’t tell them how you felt for a whole bunch of reasons?”

  “Um,” I pondered it for a moment, trying to think of a suitable response. “I guess it depends what those reasons are.”

  “Well, she’s got a boyfriend, and she’s my... my friend’s friend.” Something about that just didn’t add up in my mind.

  “Your friend’s friend, huh?” I asked, my eyebrows raised.

  “Yeah.” Nervously his eyes darted back and forth, clearly worried about getting caught. “So what would you do?”

  Looking past the obviously bad attempt at lying, I answered him. “I guess I’d think of every single reason that I could of why they should be with me instead of them, and then just hope it’s enough to convince them.”

  “Hope?” I think it was safe to say my answer didn’t do much to help him.

  “Sometimes hope is the only thing left,” I shrugged. “Tell your friend I hope it helps.”

  “Yeah, sure...” From nowhere, Always by blink-182 started to play, and I rushed to answer my phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi babe,” Max spoke down the phone. “Where are you? I tried your apartment, but you weren’t in.”

  “I’m at a friend’s at the moment.” From the corner of my eye, I could see Jack starting to get up and do something.

  “Think you could get back? I wanna take you somewhere.”

  Taking a couple of breaths to steady myself, I replied. “I can’t. I told you I was busy all day. Three times.”

  “Well I’m sorry for having an interest in our relationship!”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?” I screamed at him. “You’re always on tour or getting drunk somewhere or something, but am I allowed to have anytime to myself? Nooooooo!”

  “You could at least put some effort in Soph.” That was the last straw for me, as I hung up on Max and threw the phone to the floor, collapsing in a heap beside it as tears began to pour from my eyes.

  “Hey, don’t cry.” I felt Jack put his arms around me, and forcing myself to breathe, found that his delectable scent of pizza and Lynx chocolate _really_ helped with calming me down.

  “But... but... but he _never_ listens to me Jack. T-that’s not what a relationship should be about.” Unable to form any other words after that, I sat there, not knowing what I was going to do anymore. Jack stayed by me, stroking my hair and telling me that everything was going to be okay, but I was finding it harder and harder to believe him. Thankfully, it only took me a few minutes to recover, and I got up off the floor. “Damn,” I said, feeling around my pockets for my phone from force of habit, “hope it’s not broken...” Just as I reached for it, Jack’s hand got there after me and brushed over the top of mine; I could have sworn I felt a jolt of electricity pass between us. And that’s when I made the mistake of looking into his eyes – they were so deeply mesmerising, and yet I’d never seen them like that before, almost as if he had been saving it...

  “Soph?” the phone crackled out. Fuck, I thought to myself, he heard everything.

  Picking up the phone as quick as I could, I snatched my eyes away from Jack’s. “Yeah, I’m coming over now. See you later.” Making sure that I actually hung up this time, I turned back to him. “I’ve got to go now.” My voice barely seemed to want to let the words out.

  “Sure,” he muttered back, not even sparing a glance in my direction as I shut the apartment door behind me.


	15. Chapter 15

**_ Two weeks later _ **

  Anxiously I waited in the park, noting down every second that passed without his arrival. Seven minutes and forty-two seconds after our arranged time, his face appeared off in the distance, settling down the butterflies that had emerged in my stomach. On instinct, I ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck, but he didn’t wrap his hands round my waist like usual.

  Carefully, he prised my hands from around him, before saying “I think we’d better sit down.” Confusion swept across my face; never once had I see him act this serious, and I’m not necessarily saying that as a good thing either.

  Awkwardly, he walked over to a bench and gestured for me to join him, the uncertainty in his eyes obvious. Thoughts began racing through my mind, but I couldn’t single out one to be the cause of this change of behaviour for him. Sitting down beside him, I braced myself for whatever would be coming next.

  “Sophie, during our relationship, I haven’t been... entirely faithful.” In that instant, I could feel my heart shatter into a thousand shards of glass, each one piercing deeper into me than the last one.

  “Wh...wh...what do you mean?” Of course I knew what he meant – I’m not an idiot.

  “I fooled around with this girl a couple of weeks ago, and now she’s pregnant...” By that point, I’d heard enough.

  “How could you do that to me?” Right then, it was the only thing I can think of that didn’t involve me publicly castrating him.

  He sighed, like this was such a big deal to him. “I wasn’t thinking. Well, we were both drunk, and you were already busy with your friends or whatever, so when she suggested it, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea...”

  “Wait... so are you saying that you slept with someone else because I was with my friends?” I couldn’t understand it – was he trying to blame them?

  “Well, you always seem to be hanging around with them instead of me, and anyway, it was the only way I was gonna get any action any time soon.”

  How dare he bring my friends into this, trying to blame his unfaithfulness on them! Clearly I had chosen the better option that night if he couldn’t keep it in his pants for more than five minutes. “You know what Max?” I backed away from him as quickly as I could. “I hope you go die. Or better still, get herpes from your hooker whore, because anybody who says a bad word about my friends obviously isn’t worth having in my life.” That last comment did it from me, and I fled from him before he had chance to see the tears that were forming in my eyes because of him, a worthless lowlife scumbag.

  I felt like complete and utter crap after the afternoon I’d had. Every moment of it kept replaying in my head, over and over again, and there was no way for me to stop it. Each time it went back to the beginning, a new flood of tears came to my eyes – a new flood of emotions I could have never thought I’d be feeling towards him.

  Inside, I still felt sore and weary, wishing that I’d never met him so that none of this heartache existed. Taking a strangled breath, my body desperate for oxygen, I heard the faintest knock at the door.

  “G...go away!” I shouted in a gargled voice, wishing there was a brick I could throw at whoever was behind the door, to make them pay for... well, I don’t know, but I wanted someone to pay for what I was currently feeling, because I sure as hell knew that Max wasn’t going to be the one feeling remorse for his actions.

  “Let me in Sophie, I know what happened.” The voice sent a small shiver down my spine, belonging to Jack, possibly one of my closest friends in this city.

  Groggily, I dragged myself off of the sofa to go and open the door for him (even though he knew my door was very rarely locked), and before there was barely a big enough gap, I felt myself being swept up off my feet in a typical Jack hug, seeing as he was 6’1” and I was in comparison a lowly 5’4”.

  Once I was firmly back on the floor, I walked back over to the sofa. “I guess you want to know what happened to me then?” Sitting back down with a sigh, I pulled my legs into my body in some sort of attempt to stop myself from crying in front of him.

  “No need,” he spoke as he slowly wrapped his arm around my shoulders, bringing me in closer to him, “Alex saw everything in the park today. He said he especially liked the bit about the hooker whore you threw in.” I tried to laugh at it, but I couldn’t make the noise come out of my throat; instead, another stray sob escaped from me, causing Jack to tighten his hold on me. “Shh, Max never deserved a girl like you. You were always too good for him, and he was too blind to see what he had in front of him.”

  “Are you done with the clichés yet?” He chuckled softly into my hair, his warm breath tingling all over me.

  “But seriously,” Jack pulled out of the hug to turn and face me, “there isn’t a girl on this planet that’s funnier or smarter or kinder or sweeter than you, and... and I regret not doing this sooner.” And before I was aware of what was happening, his lips were on mine, softly pressing against one another, trying to work out whether to stay there or to move away, but I kissed him back, a feeling a million times more exciting than butterflies exploding from my stomach. I could hardly believe how long I had waited for this moment to come, and now that it had, it just felt so right, so unbelievably right, making me ask myself why the hell I hadn’t done this sooner.

  I didn’t dare to pull away, but my need for oxygen was becoming too severe. “It’s okay, you can breathe now,” he whispered into my ear, the sweet sound of his voice nearly sending me over the edge.

  “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” I was trying to recover, but all I could think about was the way his lips felt on mine, like they were meant to be there.

  He almost looked embarrassed to tell me why. “Because I’m an idiot. Plus you were so happy with Max... I didn’t want to take that away from you.”

  “...Well,” I admitted to him, “he isn’t, wasn’t, one of the most caring people out there to begin with, and anyway... there was someone else who I kind of liked, but I didn’t know if they felt the same way about me.”

  Jack’s face fell, obviously not getting my hint. “Oh. Sorry, it’s just that...”

  “I’m looking at him right now, you idiot.” It took him about a minute, but eventually he worked out that I meant him. Speechless, all he could do was gawk, hardly daring to believe his luck. “And I’m kind of wishing he would kiss me again...”

  Needless to say, we didn’t do a lot of talking after that.


	16. Chapter 16

**_ Six months later _ **

  “Okay, look over here.” It really was impossible to keep their attention for more than three seconds. “Jack! You can have the food _after_ I’m done taking shots, okay?” I guess I should explain – All Time Low have shot up _massively_ in popularity, and are currently the hottest band around (not to brag or anything, but I think I did help them to get there), and are now doing their first cover shot for Musique (also, I got promoted to head of photography after Chelsea left when Seth left, but we don’t need to worry about that).

  “But there’s cookies!” Jack whined; I definitely know now that he only has two things occupying that pretty head of his, and one of them is food (obviously, it doesn’t take a genius to guess what the second thing is). “Cookies!”

  I rolled my eyes, wondering just how they can’t wait even five minutes for food – it’s not like they were gonna die or anything! “Dude,” Alex tried to calm down the insanity in the room, “she needs to get like three more shots, so stop thinking about your stomach for just a _few_ minutes, and then you can stuff yourself with all the cookies you want to, you fat fuck.”

  Pouting, Jack desperately tried to think of a comeback. “You obviously haven’t seen how many cookies Jodie can eat.”

  “Hey, that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about!” Obviously he had touched a nerve...

  “No, I’m being serious.” Growing tired of the ensuing argument, I turned my back on them to concentrate on the laptop, uploading the pictures I had already taken. “The other day I saw her eating five cookies in under three minutes. Now that’s impressive, even compared to me.”

  Why was he so bothered about it? Was he worried that one day she was going to be able to out-eat him? Then again, I could already see that happening – they were the two piggiest people that I knew. “Don’t be so mean Jack, she is pregnant after all...” Turning back around, I was greeted with three shocked faces, all of them staring at Alex. “Shit, I wasn’t supposed to know, was I?”

  “Not really,” Alex replied, all wide-eyed.

  “Dude, are you serious? Ah wow...” Jack walked over and gave him a man-hug – I swear those two were bigger girls than... well, girls. Though Alex did look happy; I thought it best to keep my mouth shut after that and not mention the fact that Jodie’s not actually that big a fan of kids.

  “Guys! Do you think we could get this finished sometime this week, or do you really not have anything better to do?” All of them looked sheepishly down at their feet, except for Jack, who thought he would take the opportunity to try and steal food. “GET AWAY FROM THE FOOD JACK OR ELSE YOU WON’T GET COOKIES!” One glance at my face was all it took for him to realise I was serious, and thankfully we were done in ten minutes. Everyone else left, but Jack stayed behind to get food and keep me company.

  “Wow,” he spoke as he wound his arms around my waist, watching the laptop screen as he chowed down on a cookie. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you even managed to make Rian look good.”

  “Hey, you’re getting crumbs on me.” I couldn’t help but to smile – what, it’s not my fault he was so cute, even if he was more interested in food than me at the moment. But Jack just ignored me, continuing to shove cookie into his mouth, which shut him up for a few minutes.

  Once he was finished, he began to whisper in my ear. “So, any plans for tonight?”

  “Not really,” I teased him, “just going to be with my dorky boyfriend I guess, unless I get a better offer...”

  “Well, I can’t compete with that.” Softly, he began to kiss along my jaw line, making my concentration evaporate into thin air. “I guess there’s only one question then.”

  “Oh yeah?” I turned to face him, his arms still around me. “What’s that?”

  A grin spread across that stupidly adorable face of his. “Your place or mine?”


End file.
